Brooklyn Blossoms!

“What a strange thing! to be alive beneath cherry blossoms.”

— Kobayashi Issa

Ah, spring! Cherry blossoms entice us, tons of tony tulips thunder their brilliant colors, daffodils bedazzle, lilacs send out a scent so strong that all cares dissolve in fragrant splendor. I'm describing the Brooklyn Botanic Garden on April 21, when I filmed my latest Contemplate This! video.

Lilac blossoms at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, April 21, 2017

This series of videos aims to relax the viewer with lovely images set to glorious music. In this case, the music is by Gustav Mahler, his First Symphony (1st and 2nd movements), performed by the DuPage Symphony Orchestra.

I took so many photos! Here are some, and you can find more on the Brooklyn Botanic Garden page.

The Obsessive Sandpipers

“. . . The tide
Is higher or lower. He couldn’t tell you which.
His beak is focussed; he is preoccupied,

Looking for something, something, something.
Poor bird, he is obsessed!”

— Elizabeth Bishop, The Sandpiper

Sandpipers (order: Charadriiformes) often visit Central Park and Muscota Marsh (immediately north of Inwood Hill Park) during migration and give us a few days of delight as they run up and down the mudflats, lakeshores and salt marshes. I've seen three kinds of these shorebirds in the last few years: Solitary Sandpipers, Spotted Sandpipers and Least Sandpipers.

Spotted sandpiper on the shore of the Lake, Central Park, May 1, 2017

In The Sandpiper, Elizabeth Bishop really captures the sandpipers I've seen when she writes, "Poor bird, he is obsessed!" The sandpipers can't seem to stop, can't seem to take a rest as they hunt for food, or fly off briefly and then come back, only to bob and peck and peck and bob some more.

Solitary sandpiper, near the compost heap in northern Central Park, April 27, 2017

When I was putting together the spotted sandpiper video, I found footage of sandpipers from 2015 at Muscota Marsh, but could tell the birds were neither the solitary nor the spotted sandpipers I'd seen recently. I asked around, and was told by a superb young birder that these were least sandpipers. I believe him, but if someone disagrees, let me know and I'll do more research! These sandpipers are the smallest of the three, and are part of the group of five small sandpipers known as "peeps."

Least sandpipers, Muscota Marsh, Aug. 13, 2015

I've now done three videos of sandpipers: in Central Park, solitary sandpipers I saw on April 27 this year in the mudflats south of Conservatory Garden; spotted sandpipers I saw on May 1, 2017, at the Lake, and in April, July and August 2014 at Turtle Pond and the Pond; and a pair of least sandpipers I saw at Muscota Marsh on Aug. 13, 2015. The composers I used vary, but all the music features flutes for the pipers.

Here are more photos of the solitary sandpipers (Tringa solitaria) I saw flitting around the mud near the compost heap on April 27. They lived up to their name: I watched three or four solitaries that day, and only once did one approach a second bird, only to be shooed off immediately.

This grouping shows the spotted sandpiper (Actitis macularius) I watched on May 1 of this year at the Lake.

This group shows spotted sandpipers seen in Central Park in 2014 in April, July and August.

The least sandpipers (Calidris minutilla), with their yellow-green legs and round bodies.

Shakespeare, the Bar(re)d of Central Park

The first owl I saw in Central Park was a saw-whet, in April 2013. The next time I heard about an owl in the park was July 2013, when one was spotted high in a pine in the Pinetum. When I was told the owl's name, in my head I spelled it "B-A-R-D," and wondered why I couldn't find a reference to a "bard owl." I finally figured out it was a barred owl, which made more sense. But I still think of this owl as the "poet" of the owls. 

Shakespeare, a barred owl in the Ramble, April 26, 2017

On April 26, a barred owl took up temporary residence in the Ramble and provided a joyful day for all who saw him (I'm going with him, even though no one knew for sure whether he was a he or a she). The owl was fairly low, and preened and stretched and kept an eye on all the photographers and binocular-raising birders who came to witness his majesty. I named the owl Shakespeare (I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who called him that, but after all, he was a "bard owl" and the Delacorte Theater wasn't that far away!). And of course, I made a Filming the Feathers video.

So here's to Shakespeare, the Bard of Central Park! And here are photos and some of Shakespeare's poetry.

“The clamorous owl, that nightly hoots and wonders / At out quaint spirits.” — A Midsummer Night's Dream

"The night to th’ owl and morn to th’ lark less welcome." — Cymbeline

"With a good leg and a good foot, uncle, and money enough in his purse, such a man would win any woman in the world, if a' could get her good-will." — Much Ado About Nothing

"They say the owl was a baker’s daughter." — Hamlet