Originally published May 2013
The flowers, the birds, the raccoons and all the wildlife that takes us away from the bustling city, if only for a few hours. Central Park is amazing this spring, and I've been so fortunate to take a lot of pictures. I post almost daily on Facebook (feel free to friend me and let me know you saw my pictures on this site), but here are some of my favorites. I love watching all the animals. This Cooper's hawk was stunning, so high in the tree, so watchful.
The black-crowned night herons and the great egret are making themselves at home in Central Park. So are cormorants and the turtles (the invasion continues), with the help of bull frogs.
A barred owl settled in for the day at the top of a tree in the Pinetum, and in April I snapped its picture before it moved on. And there are black-crowned night herons at the Pond and the Lake. It has been a joy to photograph them and watch them fly.
I've been able to watch the egrets and the cormorants diving for fish and successfully catching dinner. After all, it is nature, and this is what they do to survive.
The egrets have been favorite subjects all spring. They are beautiful birds that can hold a pose for what seem like hours.
Seeing a bullfrog both at the Lake and the Pond has had me singin' Joy to the World with Three Dog Night. This Jeremiah was at the Pond.
On April 24, my Mom's birthday, I found a single duckling with its doting parents at the Pond. Unfortunately, I never saw it again, or any other ducklings. But nonetheless, the shots are worthy of a very loud "Awwwwww!!!"
Of course, on Mom's birthday, I was looking for cardinals, too.
There have been gorgeous flowers and foliage in the park this spring. These fiddlehead fronds were fascinating to see before they opened up.
Warbler season has been exciting and frustrating. I'm not quick enough to get good shots but am thrilled to see the birds. This is a palm warbler, one of the first shots of a warbler I was able to get. A yellowthroat is to the right.
The raccoons have been a source of delight and concern. Delight, because they have the cutest faces and behavior. Concern, because I spent one evening trying to help a raccoon that had fallen from a tree onto the walkway south of the Pond (near Central Park South) and was very injured and frightened. These pictures are of a mama raccoon and her baby, high in a tree in the Ramble (I try to stop by regularly to see how she's doing). I have taken a lot of video of raccoons near Oak Bridge at dusk, and hope to post something soon.
