Attention! The American coot is NOT a duck! (Friday's Fact)

The other day Wednesday (11-14-2018), the "cat and mouse" Mandarin duck who has been making headlines in NYC, returned to the pond near 59th Street in Central Park.

In the image atop this entry, he can be swimming with a Wood duck as a pair of "birding" Mallards gaze at them.

This Thursday's Testimony is for the Birds! (some of the birds that is)

This particular Thursday (March 22nd) "is the 81st day of the year (82nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 284 days remaining until the end of the year. This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Tuesday, Thursday or Sunday (58 in 400 years each) than on Friday or Saturday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Monday or Wednesday (56)."

Mooch and Earl are honoring the day by birding, as seen in the Mutts comic strip posted directly above, where Mooch is being "reprimanded" by a ruby-crowned kinglet for only noticing a robin.

Normally by the twenty-second of March, American Robins  have returned to my urban garden (here in NYC), but the spring season has been slow in getting underway in my area (as I mentioned in yesterday's post here on Blogger) and I haven't seen one spending time in my place as of this entry.

However, I saw them in Central Park, on February 8th, as they may have gotten the memo that the city's groundhog had predicted an early spring (which ended up being fake news) this past Groundhog Day (2-2-2018).

Be that as it may, one of the robins I encountered there can be seen in the set of pictures below.

ROBINS ARE FEATURED IN "WIOB" VOL 3

ROBINS ARE FEATURED IN "WIOB" VOL 3

ROBINS ARE FEATURED IN "WIOB" VOL 3

In any event, American Robins were not the first birds I've seen in Central Park in this year of 2018, which as you may know, has been designated as The Year of the Bird, due to this being the one hundredth anniversary of The Migratory Bird Act.

Ever since the onset of 2018, I've seen the usual cast of avian characters who spend some of their time in Central Park. These include blue jays, Canadian geese, cardinals (female and male), common grackles, European starlings, House sparrows (including a very young one), Mallard ducks (female and male) pigeons, as well as white-throated sparrows. They are all represented below respectively:

BLUE JAYS ARE FEATURED IN "WIOB"

CANADIAN GEESE HAVE A STORY IN "WIOB" VOL 2

OTHER CARDINALS ARE FEATURED IN "WIOB" 

OTHER CARDINALS ARE FEATURED IN "WIOB"

OTHER GRACKLES ARE FEATURED IN "WIOB"

OTHER STARLINGS ARE FEATURED IN "WIOB"

OTHER SPARROWS ARE FEATURED IN "WIOB"

OTHER PIGEONS ARE FEATURED IN "WIOB"

For me, this Year of the Bird, has also already provided me with the opportunity to meet a number of bird types whom I've never seen in Central Park.

Mary Oliver died one month ago today...

MY PHOTOS OF THE MANDARIN ARE AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE VIA FAA

MY PHOTOS OF THE MANDARIN ARE AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE VIA FAA

.... and in honor of this extraordinary woman, who reminds us (in her poem "Flare")

"....When loneliness comes stalking, go into the fields, consider

the orderliness of the world. Notice

something you have never noticed before,..."

I'm dedicating this post to her. I will confess that it doesn't take "loneliness stalking" to make me "Notice something (I) have never noticed before;" because it is in my nature to notice so called little things, but sometimes it takes a pair of eyes other than mine due to my challenges (understatement) with eyesight.

For instance this past Friday when I was in Central Park, where many were gathered around The Pond to snap pictures of the now famous Mandarin duck (he can be seen in the pictures atop this entry), I was talking with a woman (who identified herself as Becky) about the Mandarin and how his presence has brought so many people — from all walks of life — together.

A Red-Winged Blackbird is Bird Number Eight! (Monday's Musings)

This past Friday I met my eighth new bird type (who can seen in the photographs posted directly above) in this Year of The Bird! I encountered the little fellow when I was walking in Central Park.

This particular is a member of the Red-Winged Blackbird family and his ID, as well as his gender, was confirmed for me by Robert DeCandido PhD. As you may recall, dear reader, DeCandido is the one who ID-ed a Great Blue Heron whom I came upon in Central Park earlier this year. You might also remember that he a provided bird information (gender) when I met a Bufflehead Duck for the first time. Both bird types can be seen in the photos below (respectively).

In any event, I'm very grateful for DeCandido and I hope I can afford to participate in one of his many bird walks in the near future.

But getting back to my coming upon a Red-Winged Black Bird, my encounter with him was by mere chance, for I had gone to the park and headed to the pond in hopes of seeing an American Coot, a bird type that I initially encountered on March 19th under very bad conditions for taking a photo and I was hoping to get a better picture of this bird.

Kermit THE Frog & An American Coot (Tuesday's Truths WK 115)

Welcome to segment 115 of my Tuesday's Truths series. The photograph atop this entry is a partial view of a Macy's Ballon (which was in one of their Thanksgiving Day Parades in bygone years) rendered in the likeness of Kermit The Frog. In this image, he is "flying" high above the treetops along CPW (Central Park West).

I thought of their ballon when I was by The Pond in Central Park yesterday.

Monday Musings: ON BEING AN ODD DUCK ETC

Yesterday morning I got the notification via a tweet from from Manhattan Bird Alert  which stated
"The MANDARIN DUCK and his reflection, continuing this Sunday at the Central Park Pond (60th and Fifth)" and upon reading it I made my way over to that area of CP.

However, when I arrived the Mandarin duck was no where to be seen, but The Pond, was being used by a number of other ducks, including male Wood ducks, such as the one seen in my photograph atop this entry.

Tuesday's Truths WK 185: Red + White = Pink (Honoring N'tl Pink Day)

IMAGE CREDIT

In an earlier entry today on Blogger, I wrote about the 84th session of #ClapBecauseWeCare, an event that began occurring shortly after Governor Cuomo shut down New York state.

As you may know, re-openings across the state have been gradual and in NYC, PHASE ONE began on June 1, 2020;  while PHASE TWO began yesterday.

These lockdowns and COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic concerns coupled with these new logistics of re-openings have had an impact on my content within this blog, as I've focused primarily on those issues.

I plan to change that and begin to return to other content, starting with today's holiday which is National Pink Day. As you may know, dear reader, I have post entries about the holiday here on Blogger in bygone years.

According to a wikiHow web-page, "Pink is a color beloved by many. It’s popular on clothing, bakery decorations, and flowers, but oftentimes pink dye cannot be found in stores. The truth is that pink is a tint of red and in nature is a combination of red and violet. Fortunately, it’s fairly easy to make pink paint, icing, or more by combining red and white."

In last year's post, I included fauna and flora that have pink in their coloring. As a follow up to that post, I published an entry re the coloration of pink in nature.

Currently have some pink geraniums growing ui my garden as seen in the next photo-ops.

GERANIUMS IN MY GARDEN VIEW ONE

GERANIUMS IN MY GARDEN VIEW TWO 

And one of my Heuchera plants is exercising her bragging rights on this National Pink Day because she has pink flowers aa seen below.

OTHER HEUCHERA VARIETIES ARE FEATURED IN VOL 1

Other Heuchera varieties are featured in volume one of my three volume hard-cover book series, Words In Our Beak.

MY BOOK SERIES

Now, in honor of this holiday coinciding with Tuesday's Truths (this will be episode 185) and because the colors red and white are associated with pink, I'd like to point out aspects of nature who have red and/or white in their physical appearance (hence the image atop this entry).

Of course you won't mix their colors to get pink, but seeing red and white coloring in nature makes observing our natural world even more interesting than it  already is; as evidenced in the following pictures of nature with red and/or white in their coloring.

Tuesday's Truths, the Ninety-Second Week: "Vous pouvez porter blanc toute l' année!"

CoCo Chanel's quote, "Vous pouvez porter blanc toute l' année," that's within the title of today's post may sound familiar to you, dear reader, as it was included in the title of a blog post that I published here on the Tuesday after Labor Day in 2011 (although at that time I was not running my Tuesday's Truths series).

Incidentally, the picture atop this entry was also featured in the aforementioned entry. When I wrote that entry, I referred to the white flowers which were growing in my rooftop garden including a variety of Echinacea, such as the one seen in the photos directly below....

...  as well as the flowers growing on my Autumn Clematis.

I'm not sure why I didn't mention (in the blog post which I've been referencing) the white flowers produced by my Tree Peony — AKA Paeonia suffruiticosa — whose flowers are featured in the images below...

THIS PEONY IS FEATURED IN VOLUME ONE

THIS PEONY IS FEATURED IN VOLUME ONE

THIS PEONY IS FEATURED IN VOLUME ONE

... perhaps I failed to do so because by the Tuesday after Labor Day in 2011 this particular shrub was long past its thriving days (which always occur in April through early May).

Yesterday wasn't a good one for a fish in CP!

As I was crossing Oak Bridge in Central Park in the early evening yesterday, it was especially peaceful because the guy who normally disrupts the sound of birds singing by playing show tunes on his loud instrument (while sitting on this bridge) was not there. I was blessed to spot a lone Great Egret (who can be seen in the image directly above) making his/her way in a seemingly methodical manner as he/she walked across the lake.

Saint Patrick's Day 2019

Happy Saint Patrick's Day, dear reader! As you can see, I'm honoring it with a cartoon by Dan Regan, that's posted atop this entry and was sent to me in bygone years.

May 4th is STILL For The Birds!

VOLUMES ONE AND TWO

Today, May 4th, is Bird Day. It seems more special today in 2018's Year of the Bird, which, as you may know, was designated as such due to this year being the one hundredth anniversary of the passing of The Migratory Bird Act.

In any event, according to Holiday Insights, "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."

If this breaking news sounds familiar to you dear reader, it may be because I discussed Bird Day in my May 4th posting for the year 2016, which was quite extensive, as it included many bird varieties.

You may reference it by clicking here. Since the publication of my Bird  Day post, I have published two hardcover versions within the Words In Our Beak book series and they can be seen in the image atop this entry.*

Today in honor of Bird Day, I am featuring images of all the bird types whom (in alphabetical order) I have met in Central Park or at the Hudson River, as well as in my courtyard, since that the last year's Bird Day.

Another Sunday in the Park WITHOUT George! (But there was a Great Egret ...)

Last Sunday, which was a gloomy rainy day (just as it is today), I was walking with a friend in Central Park, and we came upon a Great Egret. This creature can be seen in the photographs atop this entry. The first two images feature him/her spending time amongst Mallard ducks.

However, that was not my first time seeing a Great Egret. The first time in my long life for seeing an Egret was a little over three weeks ago (on May 11th) when I was also in the park. That Egret can be seen in the next image, where he/she seems to be watching me as I watch him/her.

In the Words In Our Beak book series (pictured below), Cam the cardinal who narrates the stories has a term for the activity of birds watching people: people-ing.

VOLUMES ONE AND TWO

The birds featured in her published stories are mostly ones whom she has met when spending her time in my rooftop garden, not the ones who frequent Central Park.

However, in Volume Two, she does include a story about Canadian Geese and their goslings who enjoy the bodies of water in the park. Moreover, after she finishes volume three (scheduled to be published this fall), Cam may "spread her wings" and tell stories of the birds who frequent NYC's parks.

A Gray Catbird is on "the pink carpet!" Tuesday's Truths for Week Eighty-Six

As I stated in this past Sunday's post, I  recently encountered a Great Egret for the first time in my long life. This brought the number of new birds I've seen in this Year of the Bird up to ten. 

The other first time meeting of avian creatures that I've seen during this Year of the Bird, include (in alphabetical order) an American Coot, a Bufflehead Duck, a Great Blue Heron, a Northern Pintail, a Red-Bellied Woodpecker, a Red-Tailed Hawk, a Red-Winged Black Bird, a Ruddy Duck, and a couple of Wooden Ducks. 

And, now I've met my eleventh bird, who happens to be a Gray Catbird. My encounter with this bird type actually occurred shortly after I saw my first Great Egret, a little over three weeks ago, when I was in Central Park, This creature can be seen in the image atop this entry, he/she seems to be watching me as I watch him/her.