A Turtle's Lament

Hey, You, Get Off of My Back!

This video is just for fun! Watch as the red-eared sliders jockey for position. Music is by Leo Delibes. I could almost hear the music as I filmed this!

Red-eared sliders at the Lake, Central Park, Sept. 24, 2016

A Handsome Hawk Visits Central Park

On Sept. 23 , we found a visiting young adult red-tailed hawk at the back of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was late in the evening, and the light wasn't great, but I did get some photos and a video. We were struck by how dark the head of this bird was, and how beautiful the coloring (darker than Pale Male, but the head shape was very similar). We don't think bird was related to Pale Male, but he sure was a gorgeous hawk!

A visiting young adult red-tailed hawk on the top of the Met Museum, Sept. 23, 2016

A Pintail Visitor

On Sept. 21, a female northern pintail duck visited Turtle Pond. I have rarely seen pintails. In fact, the only other times I've seen pintails in Central Park were Nov. 20 and Nov. 30, 2013, when male pintails (I think two, though both sightings may have been of the same male) visited the Pool at 103rd Street and the north end of the Reservoir.

Female northern pintail at Turtle Pond, Sept. 21, 2016

I included the male pintails I saw in 2013 in my Reservoir Ducks II video. I am now including that footage, plus video I took on Sept. 21, in a new Filming the Feathers video. The music is the third movement of a Beethoven wind octet, performed by Soni Ventorum Wind Quintet.

The Audubon Web site has a gorgeous pintail photo, and a lot of good info on these handsome birds.

The first five photos in the following gallery are of the male pintail duck taken in November 2013. The other photos are of our female visitor on Sept. 21.

An American Bittern in the Ramble (in May)

Last week an American bittern was sighted at Azalea Pond in the trees, and the following day it was sighted at the Point. I didn't find the bittern either day (I did look). But it reminded me that I had seen a bittern in the spring, but that I hadn't posted photos or a video.

An American bittern at the south end of the Oven, May 8, 2016.

So here they are! The bittern is a beautiful but very shy heron, with a longer bill and longer neck than the similar black-crowned night heron and yellow-crowned night heron. I noticed that the coloring of the American bittern is very similar to that of a young black-crowned night heron.

These birds are rarely in the open, and are most frequently spotted among the reeds, as this one was. They are carnivores, eating fish, frogs and insects primarily. For more background on the American bittern, visit the Cornell Web site.