r2junot

Ohh thanks, just reading this!

Aw me too yay! 🙏

A young brown, gray & white Eastern Cottontail is shown at night on a hill covered w/mostly dry grass, partially illuminated by lamplight. Photo was taken w/low-light settings & no flash was used. This bunny sports a shaggy, winter coat of fur w/distinctive orange-brown highlights common to the continuing Maintenance Meadow family of Central Park. Bunny has taken a moment from foraging to sit up & listen w/tall, twitching ears to a passing snippet of music coming from the nearby East Drive. Like most New Yorkers, juv cottontails are curious thrill-seekers who just want to know what's going on. Bun appears against a blurred, brown background showing the gradual incline of Bunny Hill. I've been watching bunnies on this little hill since 2021 & it's never looked so dry that their agouti fur functions as camouflage.

Human, why is the earth so dry?

Eastern Cottontail
9:24pm Tues 1/28
Bunny Hill
Central Park
#addMam

Thanks Chris! 🙏 I've seen juv hawks survive worse. A wildlife rehabber reminded me that hawks are virtually indestructible. That advice helped me see this juv's temporary lethargy & favoring of the one foot as healing measures vs signs of decline. Saw him hunt & fly well before he left the park! ❤️

A young, light brown & white patterned hawk is shown perching on one foot on a narrow branch, favoring his injured left leg. His head is turned to his right to peer at something interesting in the near distance, one bright orange eye in view. Brown & white streaked head; mostly white breast; patterned brown & white fluffy belly band; barred brown & white tail feathers extending below branch; brown & white wings folded behind. He appears against a grey background accented by brick red from blurred buildings & punctuated by many bare branches. His beak shows blood from his work of tending to his wounds earlier. Signs of his discomfort are countered by his upright, confident pose signaling strength, tenacity & the will to survive.

Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk seen 3:45pm 1/11 in Carl Schurz Park. This was the first of three days he spent recuperating from injuries on his feet, left leg & lower body, likely inflicted by one of the larger, territorial hawks. He slowly improved & left the park. I miss him. #raptors #birds

A small, mostly red & brown bird is shown perching on a thin branch w/one foot clutching a delicate twig. He faces us in three-quarter profile meeting our gaze with a look of content, his thick silver beak showing traces of suet. Streaked red & brown head & breast; streaked light & dark brown below & behind. This finch shows against a gray winter background w/rusty highlights created by bare branches. He looks like he's posing for a class picture.

House Finch seen at Carl Schurz Park on New Year's Eve 2024. He was part of cute little finch gang visiting the suet feeder by Gracie Mansion & raiding a nearby crabapple tree. #birds

This is aMAZing!

🥔 ❤️‍🔥

Epic

Woah!

LOL free weights! I ran w/the sleek cassette Walkman in the 80s at college, jk that thing was chonkers. Little foam pads on the earphones & when the foam fell off it hurt. 🥲

Thank you! Love them all. So much to learn, one day at a time!

A puffy male House Sparrow borb is shown holding onto a thin bare stalk in a snowstorm the way a ship's captain might hold onto the mast during a blizzard at sea. He faces us & gazes into the distance (but was actually begging treats which I do not carry). Grandpa is set against a grey background punctuated by another bare stalk. He is grayish underneath & on cheeks per usual but has a bright white cap instead of the standard dull gray one (due to his pigment mutation). The back of his head is rufous but his nape is white. Grandpa's large black bib signals his Daddy status.

Carl Schurz Park's beloved leucistic House Sparrow known as Grandpa was seen enjoying the snow at 11am on Mon 1/6. He's not elderly & acts more like a friendly sparrow kingpin, roaming the park w/a posse. I've just read that his large black bib signals his status as an older, dominant male. #birds

YES

A young, medium-sized, brown & white hawk is shown perching in a small, bare tree on a city block in bright sunlight. This hawk is small for the breed, so is likely a male. He faces to our left & is visible in profile, if partially obscured. Small head, small hooked beak & one visible yellow eye peering forward. His streaked & barred plumage echoes the staccato pattern of the tree branches. His head, back & long tail blend in w/the tree but his puffed up breast & belly feathers do not. All the birds saw him, basically. The sky-blue windows & red bricks of the building in the background appear wildly distorted, an effect caused by warm air trapped by my lens hood clashing w/the cold air outside. Not unrelated: the hawk's puffed up feathers trap warm air against his body to block the cold. Winter is the best season for viewing raptors who are experts at hiding behind leaves. Seeing raptors like this takes the sting out of cold weather. If I can impart anything in this alt it's the clear, crisp way hawks look on a cold, sunny winter day. Writing alt text helps me see better.

Juv Big Blue Darter seen 11:22am Mon 12/23 on my block (UES lower 80s NYC). I'd been out birding all morning & saw this kid on my way home. Temp had climbed to apprx 18° by then & the cold air clashed w/warm air trapped by my lens hood to create wild distortion in the background. #raptors #birds

Thanks so much!!

Thank you! 🙏

Yes, Blue Dasher! We get tons in Central Park. Actually Big Blue Darter only really works for adult Coops, as their plumage is blue-gray on the back & wings (head is darker) compared to the brown & white coloring of juvs like this. But this nickname is the most common.

Yes! Nicknames for Coops incl Big Blue Darter (or just Blue Darter), Striker & Flying Cross. I support the AOS'
(@amornith.bsky.social's) current work of renaming 70-80 birds named for ppl who all happen to be white men. This project strips away a layer of institutional fuckery & I'm here for it.

A young, medium-sized, brown & white patterned hawk is shown stretching while perched on a thick, horizontal branch. Small head, one visible yellow eye, small hooked beak. His tail feathers fan out behind him on both sides & his left wing/flight feathers fan out below/ behind the branch. Raptor yoga. So much going on visually. His vertically streaked head & breast & his horizontally barred wing & tail feathers are set off against a hazy golden background punctuated by a few bare branches. The lump aka full crop appearing high on his breast shows that he's eaten recently. My friends & I loved the soft, otherworldly light in which he was bathed on this warm, cloudy day. He stayed till after sunset, cloaked in the shadows that had not yet crept in.

Juv Big Blue Darter seen 2:20pm Sun 12/29/24 in Carl Schurz Park. He's 1 of at least 5 Blue Darters hunting in this park: 4 juvs (2 small/likely male; 2 much larger/likely fem) & 1 adult f. This small but tough kid rarely shows re a larger juv fem chases everyone out. NYC wild life. #raptors #birds

A small, bright red (male) cardinal is shown perched on a green metal fence post waiting for my friend to grace him w/a blueberry. His mate was nearby. He faces us, cap up, wings folded behind, long tail partially visible below. His one black eye is fixed on me as if to ask: why are you not feeding me too? They say birds can't smile but I could swear I see a smile emerging from his orange-red beak set off against the black square feathers marking his beautiful face. He is set off against the blurred gray wall of the Gracie Mansion grounds & a few blurred green leaves & brown branches of a small tree just behind him. When cardis appear, angels are near.

Happy New Year ❤️

Northern Cardinal
Sunday 12/29/24
Carl Schurz Park
NYC
#birds

🙏 Thanks!!

❤️‍🔥

❤️‍🔥

A large brown & white hawk is shown through a tangle of bare branches perched in the sunlight against the pale blue sky. The patterned, vertical streaking of her belly band & the horizontal barring of her tail further activate this composition. She faces us w/wings folded behind & gives a curious look without staring directly which is a cool thing hawks do sometimes. She's puffed up her feathers to trap warm air against her body on this cold day. Her full crop (protruding bump on chest) shows that she's resting to digest a recent meal. She's also puffing up her chest to appear formidable to a nearby juv Big Blue Darter (not shown), whose territory begins only a few yards to her right. Later we hung out on the empty b-ball courts & she swooped me low to say hi. [TL;DR: In the days to come, the juv Darter became more aggressive & began to chase this juv RTH all over the park. The next day this juv RTH's head was bleeding but she's been flying well & holding her ground. Keeping watch. Grateful for the quiet time I spent w/her on that snowy day.]

Did you see the light this morning?
Sometimes there's this extra air
Sometimes I can keep my mouth open
I will stay if I dare.
-Fever Ray "What They Call Us"

[Cont juv Red-tailed Hawk, 12/21, Carl Schurz Park]
#raptors #birds @feverray.music-social.com.ap.brid.gy

Thanks so much! 🙏

Close-up view of a small, adorable falcon sitting on a snow-covered conifer looking right at us. His slate-blue head, rusty cap & white face marked w/ two black slashes show that he's an adult male. Buff lines on the side of his head match his buff breast which is punctuated by black spots. His slate-gray wings are glimpsed folded behind. He looks at us with an impish look - he was being heckled by one of the local mockingbirds. This colorful little hunter stands out against the gray sky over the East River. He left to hunt all over the park but returned to catch a mouse here & when he tried to eat it the same mocker chased him off. This mocker's mate heckles this same Kestrel when he hunts on the park's North Lawn.

Medium-sized, gray, brown & white bird with long tail & bright orange eyes shown in full angry librarian mode perched on a snowy conifer while heckling/mobbing a nearby kestrel. Mocker stands tall w/tail pointing out, mid-twitch with head turned partly toward us. Mocker has raised its crest & is flashing the white stripes on its dark gray wings to show combat readiness. Mocker's body has reached defcon 5 puff mode to warn the kestrel that its unbridled wrath will soon become an airborne attack which in fact happened. Day of wrath and doom impending!

Happy Holidays from my family to yours!

Cont American Kestrel (L) & cont Northern Mockingbird (R) seen 11am Tues 12/24 by Carl Schurz Park's Hoop Garden. #raptors #birds

A medium-sized brown & white hawk is shown perched on the branch of a London Plane tree, beak wide open while calling responses to a younger aggressor. She faces away from us, but is seen in partial profile. Under her dark cap, her face is orange-brown which IDs her as female. Her visible eye is orange, as are the horizontal bars on her pale breast, all features confirming that she's an adult. Her long, light & dark brown, horizontally barred tail hangs behind her below the perch. Background is grey activated by bare branches & twigs. This photo was taken moments before this powerful darter flew at & slammed into the aggressive juv heckling her close by. I watched them both tumble off the branch out of view & am amazed that both flew off without injury.

Young, medium-sized brown & white hawk is shown perched on a branch, facing away w/head turned to the left to reveal profile. This hawk had just flown into the backyard of Gracie Mansion to perch in view of the adult (shown in L photo) who was perched on the Mayor's Lawn. The juv has turned her (?) orange/brown face to look back & heckle the adult - one yellow eye is in view. A bit of the juv's pale belly w/brown streaks is seen, while juv's brown & white patterned back + folded wings and barred, dark+light-brown tail are in full view. The brightly patterned juv is set off against a gray background punctuated by bare branches behind. This photo was taken moments before the adult flew into the mayor's backyard to slam this juv off-perch & out of sight. Seems a miracle that neither sustained injuries.

Dispute btw 2 Big Blue Darters (adult L/juv R) seen 3-3:15pm Thurs 12/19 at Gracie Mansion in Carl Schurz Park. Juv flew into the mayor's backyard to heckle the adult who responded by knocking her off-perch. Juv fled across the E. River while the adult flew a victory lap overhead. #raptors #birds

A medium-sized woodpecker clings to a tree marked by many small, round & rectangular sapwells which he or another sapsucker has drilled. His face is white (& a bit yellow) with black stripes accentuated by a red forehead (shared by males & females) & a red throat (which identifies him as male). True to his name, his belly is mostly yellow with some black & white patterning. His back is black & white w/some yellow & his visible black wing is marked by a long, white stripe. The visually activated patterning of his plumage looks symbiotically connected to the tree's chaotic patterning of sapwells & peeling bark. Where bark has fallen off, the tree is orange, revealing that it's compromised in some way. Sapsuckers love a gooey orange tree. A few bare branches show in the background which is mostly gray, setting off the tree's orange glow & the sapsucker's yellow belly & bright red accents.

Continuing male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker seen 2:35pm Wed 12/18 in Carl Schurz Park near East End Ave. The park is full of vocal sapsuckers drilling small sapwells into trees or drinking from them. This guy was enjoying some bug-filled sap while giving nearby birds the side eye. #birds

Thank you!