Ducky, It's Cold Outside!

It has been really cold in New York since Christmas, and I've been going down to the 59th Street Pond to feed Woody and his buddies as the ice takes up more of their habitat, plus checking out the ducks and other waterfowl at the Reservoir in Central Park, and at the beaches at Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx, Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn and Great Kills on Staten Island. These birds seem so resilient in the freezing cold (although I have seen casualties, often the result of a duck or cormorant trying to land on the ice and breaking a leg).

Woody Wood Duck, Jan. 9, 2018, the Pond

Northern pintail and mallards, the Pond, Jan. 9

I put together a video homage to the ducks, geese, gulls and other water birds I've seen during the cold weather. I call it Cold Ducks!!! and it's set to music by Debussy. It features hooded mergansers, ruddy ducks (including the only time I've seen one try to run on ice), a common loon, ring-billed gulls, buffleheads, greater scaup, herring gulls, Canada geese, wood ducks (Woody and his buddies at 59th Street, plus two at the Reservoir), long-tailed ducks (the first I've ever seen — a video of them to come soon!), ring-necked ducks (my second-favorite duck), mallards, northern pintail (Pinny), American coot, American black ducks, northern shovelers, great black-backed gulls, brant and red-breasted mergansers.

Below you can find a photo gallery of some of the cold ducks and other freezing birdies.

Hooded merganser on the Reservoir, Jan. 2

Northern pintail (Pinny) at the Pond, Jan. 9

Ring-necked duck on the Reservoir, Jan. 9

Ring-billed gull, Floyd Bennett Field, Jan. 10

The photos below were taken Dec. 27 and 28, 2017, and Jan. 2, 3, 9 and 10, 2018: Canada geese, long-tailed duck, hooded merganser (female), wood duck (Woody's nephew), wood duck (back, at Reservoir), male and female ring-necked ducks, black ducks, great black-backed gulls, northern pintail, herring gulls, American coot (you can really see those great "fern feet"), red-breasted merganser, more black-backed gulls.

A Rare Visitor on the Watch List

Hudsonian godwits (Limosa haemastica) breed in remote areas of the Arctic and spend the winter in South America, and thus are not seen all that often even when they are migrating. When a Hudsonian godwit visited Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in early October, it was a great opportunity to film this long-billed, long-legged shorebird. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, "Hudsonian Godwit is on the 2016 State of North America's Birds' Watch List, which includes bird species that are most at risk of extinction without significant conservation actions to reverse declines and reduce threats." 

Hudsonian godwit, Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, October 11

I was able to watch this shorebird forage for insects with that long bill and run around the mudflats on the East Pond on October 7 and 11. The music is by Mozart, arranged for recorders and performed by Papalin.

The upturned bill and the red at the base of the bill distinguish this shorebird from the numerous greater yellowlegs I have seen at Jamaica Bay (I will post more shorebirds soon). The photos below were all taken on October 11. The last photo, next to a Canada goose, gives you an idea of the size of this godwit.

The Divine Trio, Part 2

The three little red-tailed hawk fledglings at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine were very active in the Close on July 16, 18 and 19. The kids have pretty much left the cathedral grounds now, and I haven't seen them for a while. I think they are now hanging out in Morningside Park, and I've always had trouble finding them there. But I did get a lot of nice photos and video in mid-July, and here I offer Part 2 of the Saint John series.

One of the three Saint John the Divine fledglings, July 19, trying to keep cool.

The video is fairly short, but full of some nice shots of the youngsters in trees, on roofs and bouncing a hot butt in a puddle near the guard station in the Close.

This first group of photos shows the kids on July 16. The second photo does not show an alien invasion, but rather a kid with one of the multiple eyelids that hawks have to protect their delicate eyes.

These two shots were taken July 18, when a baby was seen on one of the chimneys on the Cathedral School, while Mama Madeleine sat on a nearby building railing.

This last grouping is from July 19. Unfortunately, I didn't get photos of the fledgling's butt bounce, but you will certainly get a good view in the video.