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Thursday, May 4, 2017

Today, May 4th, IS FOR THE BIRDS!


Many of you might recognize the cardinal featured in the photograph atop this blog entry, for this creature is Cam, the author of Words In Our Beak Volume One, a book which I helped her to write.



In any event, the image that is atop-this posting is included in her story, and it was taken in my rooftop garden, located in NYC, and where the story takes place. Cam is with me in honor of the holiday, which is Bird Day. According to Holiday Insights (HI), Bird Day is aways celebrated on May 4th.

HI explains that "Bird Day is the oldest of the days set aside to recognize birds. According to the U.S. Library of Congress, Bird Day was first observed  on May 4, 1894. It was started by Charles Almanzo Babcock, superintendent of schools in Oil City, Pennsylvania. By 1910, Bird Day was widely celebrated, often in conjunction with Arbor Day. Bird Day and Arbor Day events are focused upon conservation training and awareness."

Therefore, in honor of this event, Cam and I are featuring images of all the bird types who have visited my urban garden, as of this posting. We are doing this in order of the appearance of a given fauna type in my place.

Cam is the first bird I saw in my garden, however, others have seen hummingbirds her. But since I have not, we'll begin with her. Cam has been here with her husband, Mac, as well as couple of her children as seen in the next set of images.




The second bird type who I noticed in my garden is male and female house finches who can be seen getting intimate while perching on the string lights which hang over my garden.


Mourning doves were the third bird variety to spend time here and they also used my place to get intimate as evidenced below.


All three of the aforementioned bird types are discussed in detail (accompanied by an array of images) in Words In Our Beak Volume One.  

The  other birds which have visited here will be featured in subsequent volume. These include (in order of appearance in my garden.

Blue jays:







Tufted titmouses:


Chickadees:


Downy Woodpeckers:


Common Grackles:






Pigeons:




European starlings:






American Goldfinch:


American robin:



A Leutistic House Finch:


And an American kestrel:



The American kestrel's arrival brought the total amount of bird types who have visited my garden to twenty.

Of these twenty varieties who have come here, I have seen seven of them represented in Central Park, including American robins, blue jays, cardinals, common grackles, European starlings, mourning doves, pigeons, sparrows and tufted titmouses.

I've also encountered other types of fauna in the park.
These include Mallard ducksCanadian geese, and White-throated sparrows (pictured below respectively):





Moreover, when I've been down by the riverside (Hudson), I've seen Canadian Geese, ducks and seagulls.




And as you can imagine, I've also encountered seagulls at the beach in Robert Moses State Park,


as well as Long Beach;


were I observed American Oystercatchers.


And, last, but not least, in terms of shorebirds, I have had the honor to be in the presence of Least Sandpipers on a New Jersey beach!


But, I've also met the following birds who were in rehab places such as The Wild Bird Fund (WBF),



and at The Raptor Trust.



I initially became acquainted with the The WBF when I particpated in the rescue of a pigeon. As for my acquaintance with The Raptor Trust, that came through an effort to save Super, a Northern Flicker.




Sadly, the bird did not survive, but the consolation has been becoming knowledgeable about how birds can be helped!

What an honor it has been for me to witness such an array of fauna and it's my pleasure to pay homage to them on this Bird Day!

FALL 2018 ADDENDUM: 

I no longer actively produce event program covers, invitations and the types of greeting cards described here or on my website but arrangements might be able to be made under certain circumstances. My focus is on the Words In Our Beak book series, pictured below...

WORDS IN OUR BEAK BOOK SERIES

...whose stories are told from the point of view of Cam, a female cardinal, whose photo is on the cover of each book. Words In Our Beak’s goal is to open readers to a simple understanding of the winged world and their environment. Set in my rooftop urban garden in New York City. Words In Our Beak is directed to children and adults who are curious about birds, and want to learn about them from a unique perspective. The books include hundreds of images of flora and fauna, links to movies, as well as to informative narratives that have been created by the author.

Please click here to go to my blog post that provides details as to where you can get these books.

Additionally, I have rendered some images from these books into other formats and they are available via Fine Art America (FAA). Some of my other photographs (Black & White Collection, Kaleidoscopic Images and the famous Mandarin duck who visited NYC) can also be found on my FAA pages.

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