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.

NYC dwellers need Oliver Herford's optimism today! (It's only 19°F)!

NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRDS ARE FEATURED IN VOL 3

It has been bitter cold the past few days here in NYC, so when I heard a Northern mockingbird singing in my rooftop garden, while he/she alighted upon my Avellana corylus, AKA Contorted Hazelnut (as seen in the picture atop this entry), I thought of the poem, I Heard a Bird Sing, by Oliver Herford.

Salinger Died 9 Years Ago on This Day of 1-27

The author, J.D. Salinger, died nine years ago (2010) on this day of 1-27. He was ninety-one years of age as he had recently celebrated his birthday (he was born on 1-1-1919).

My photos atop this entry are of a male and female Mallard duck (respectively) enjoying either the pond or the lake in Central Park and they are (along with the other Mallard images included within this posting) intended to be a tribute to him.

October 1st 2018

St. Thérèse de Lisieux

Another October 1st is upon us and as always the day honors St. Thérèse de Lisieux, a saint whose framed photo (seen in the image directly above) hangs above my desk. As I've mentioned a number of times here on Blogger, including an entry I made in 2011, I moved into my apartment on her feast day in 1992.

Many of my years here have not been easy, with health-related issues frequently interrupting my work. But I'm hoping for some success with my endeavors (selling my photo-art, kaleidoscopic, as well as fauna-based) which I have had uploaded to my gallery pages on Fine Art America, and/or my booking presentations that feature issues related to my Words In Our Beak book series) will alleviate some of my financial burden.

This past Saturday, I had the pleasure of spending part of my "Saturday in the Park," with Jenny (one of Cam 's biggest fans who is also an advocate for us being given an event at a bookstore on the UWS).

Honoring J.D. Salinger re Central Park Ducks

Seven years ago today, on January 27, 2010, the writer, J.D. Salinger died. He was was ninety-one years old. Salinger has been on my mind these days, especially fifteen days ago, January 12th, when I took a walk in NYC's Central Park. For on that day, I noticed that the lake which "serves" the area near to The Boat Basin was completely frozen. Normally there are a vast number of Canadian geese and ducks in that lake, but on this particular day, there were none in sight.

Interesting Historical Facts re Carousels (Tuesday's Truths WK 111)

CORMORANTS ARE FEATURED IN VOL 3

In my Wednesdays' Wisdom segment here on Blogger for 1/9/2019 (which was two weeks ago), I discussed some facts re the bird type known as Cormorants.

One of the members of this variety is featured in the photo atop this entry where he/she is swimming in the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir within Central Park.

Part of that post I includes interesting facts about these avian beauties and I mentioned that these birds are included in volume three of my Words In Our Beak book series.*

MY BOOK SERIES

One of the matters the story re Cormorants within that volume is an aside to facts re this avian creature. It explains this bird type type is part of a carousel in the Chelsea section of NYC.

The animals a person rides upon in that particular merry-go-round are made up of animals rendered in the likeness of creatures who frequent the Hudson Valley, which includes cormorants.

The following photographs show what the cormorant (the black bird to the right in the first one and at the far left in the second one) within that carousel looks like...

THIS CAROUSEL IS REFERENCED IN VOL 3

THIS CAROUSEL IS REFERENCED IN VOL 3

... and am using today's segment of my Tuesday's Truths series as an opportunity to tell you a little bit more about it as well as other carousels and to give you a few fun facts re merry-go-rounds (the common name for this fun ride).

"... Another Day (Saturday) in the Park..."

As I have mentioned a number of times here on Blogger any time it is a Saturday and I'm in either Riverside Park or Central Park, I find myself thinking of the hit song Saturday in the Park by the rock band Chicago, and today was no exception.

Even though NYC (as well as much of the United States) is undergoing a dangerous heat wave, I took my weekly early morning walk with a friend (CF) and when we walked through Central Park and spent time in The Conservatory Gardens near the area where the Untermyer Fountain (seen in the images atop this entry) is located.

Yet another Saturday in the Park

Two weeks ago when I was on what has become my weekly Saturday walk in Central Park with CF, a friend, we came upon some wonderful nature sightings; a mama raccoon rescuing her young'un and  a baby robin taking in his/her view from a nest, as well as a baby blue jay learning to fly and gosling triplets with their parents.

Today when I walked with my friend, she spotted a number of fish in Turtle Pond and and a few in Wagner Cove, such as the one seen in the image atop this entry. I've never seen such large fish in any spot within the park but I've often seen people fishing. Seeing today's big fish, prompted me to come home and fish around via google for information on fishing in Central Park. Here is a link that leads to info re the Catch and Release Fishing Policy in Central Park. And here are some more pictures of the fish I saw at Wagner Cove.

As I have mentioned a number of times here on Blogger any time it is a Saturday and I'm in either Riverside Park or Central Park, I find myself thinking of the hit song Saturday in the Park by the band Chicago, and today was no exception: "What a day in the park, everyday's The Fourth Of July..."

Thursday's Tale: Yet another walk in the park. (A View From OAK Bridge)

This past Monday, even though temperatures were only in the twenty-degree range, with "real feel" temperatures much colder, I took a walk in Central Park; to see how our wildlife was faring in the bitter cold.

After all, beyond-frigid temperatures haven't stopped me from going to the park before. As you may recall, from a previous post here on Blogger, I took a walk in Central Park earlier in the month when temperatures were far below what they were this past Monday.

The first photograph atop this entry was featured in the aforementioned blog entry, and I'm including it in this posting as I have a correction to make, for I stated that the view being featured in the image was a view from Bow Bridge, but I had a senior moment in stating this, the view is actually from the Oak Bridge, which I returned to Monday afternoon and took the following picture of the same subject from that vantage point.

The only difference is I zoomed in quite a bit (so a view of one of NYC's sky-lines is not included here as it was in the image I took earlier in January). I zoomed so that I could capture a bird type whom I've never seen in Central Park, or anywhere else for that matter.

I've indicated this bird by affixing an orange square to the second photo below (which is a duplicate of the first one that's there).

A passerby indicated that the bird who was new to me was a type of Egret. However, I did not take her at her word before writing this post, as I don't want to be accused of reporting fake news, which I inadvertently did when I referred to the view from this bridge as being from the Bow Bridge; and not the Oak Bridge, as I've just stated.

Upon my realizing that I'd confused the Bow Bridge with the Oak Bridge, I thought of a passage from Joan Didion's, Goodbye to All That, an essay on Didion's decision to leave NYC (which she ultimately moved back to years later):

".... All I could do during those years was talk long-distance to the boy I already knew I would never marry in the spring. I would stay in New York, I told him, just six months, and I could see the Brooklyn Bridge from my window. As it turned out the bridge was the Triborough, and I stayed eight years.
—-
     In retrospect it seems to me that those days before I knew the names of all the bridges were happier than the ones that came later..."

Meanwhile, in terms of the bird who was new to me, I thought that I was ultimately able to find out his/her correct type from someone in my Twitter feed. Susan M. Thom, Esq solved my mystery, after I tweeted images of this bird and asked for an identification (since I could not find it in my own research).

The 8th Anniversary of J.D. Salinger's Death

Today, 1-27-2018, marks the eighth anniversary of author, J.D. Salinger's death. Over the years, I've referenced Salinger in a few entires here on Blogger, which you may reference by clicking here.

Because of the protagonist, Holden Caulfield, in his novel, The Catcher in the Rye, this writer often comes to mind when I see Mallard ducks in Central Park, which is evident in my posts re Salinger.

Lately, during these bitter cold January days, I've paid particular attention to an area of a lake in the park which never seems to freeze. Ducks as well as a lone Great Blue Heron seem to know about as this area, and, they tend to congregate there on unseasonably cold winter days; as evidenced in the photographs atop this entry.

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.

Friday Follow-Up: "Saturday in the Parks"

Hello dear reader, and welcome to my third and final follow-up to my 10-19-2019 blog entry, Saturday in the PARKS. As some of you may recall, in the aforementioned entry, I discussed the fact that that I would be spending part of my morning in Brooklyn's Prospect Park and then part of the afternoon in Manhattan's Central Park; and I promised to follow-up on October 25th 2019, with the hope that a few of my observations are inspiring to you.

However, as I said in this past Wednesday's blog entry, I've decided to split that content into a few (three) entries, rather then make one lengthy posting. The aforementioned posting discusses an aspect (an encounter with a bird whose ID determination caused a "controversy") of my October 19th walk in Central Park.

Then in yesterday's entry, I discussed my walk in Prospect Park and included a promise that I would talk about other aspects of my 10-19-2019 Central Park walk on Friday, October 25th 2019... so here I am to do just that, beginning with my sighting of a fast moving red dragonfly (seen in the picture atop this entry).

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.

THE SILENT TREATMENT: American Robins ARE Hoppin' & A Bobbin' BUT...

AMERICAN ROBIN

AMERICAN ROBIN

AMERICAN ROBIN

AMERICAN ROBIN

AMERICAN ROBIN

AMERICAN ROBIN

The photographs atop this blog entry are of an American Robin that I came upon when I was walking in Central Park. I've seen a number of members of this bird type during my walks in Central Park, which is a fact I mentioned here on Blogger. I've also seen them when I've cycled (on a tandem) to The Little Red Lighthouse, but on those occasions it is usually too dark to take a decent photograph of this (or any) bird type.

When I first started noticing the presence of robins in both Central Park and near The Little Red Lighthouse, I nearly had a long term case of ohrwurms caused by my recalling the song "Rocking Robin."

Ohrwurms, as you may know, is the term given to the "condition" of having a song stuck in your head and seeing robins on a daily basis as I walked through Central Park, certainly prompted me to sing,"He rocks in the tree tops all day long .... Hoppin' and a-boppin' and singing his song. All the little birdies on Jaybird street, love to hear the robin go tweet, tweet, tweet... Rockin' robin, rock, rock, Rockin' robin, rock rock...." 

But in reality the robins I saw in Central Park or near The Little Red Lighthouse were not "rockin' in the treetops," but they were "hoppin' and a-boppin" across the ground. And I never heard any of those robin go "tweet, tweet, tweet!" They have all been silent.

Thursday's Testimony: The Legacy of Friends (Remembering DD and Claudia Ferrer)

Today is not part of my blog posting schedule for this week, but it is being published in honor of what would be the seventy second birthday of my dearly departed friend, Donna De Solis, who passed away on June 25th, 2015. The video posted atop this entry is one I created to honor her memory (at the request of her son) and it is included within my Vimeo as well as my You Tube library.

We first met in the mid 1980's. Donna (or DD as many called her) lived in my hood was a frequent visitor to my rooftop garden and I attended her annual Christmas parties held in her home.

Yellow Coloration in Nature

I came upon the Silver-Spotted Skipper (seen in the image atop this entry) when I took a walk in Central Park twith CF his past Saturday and I included facts re him/her in my blog post for that day. This creature is on my mind today because I've been thinking about his/her yellow markings as well as elements of nature who have yellow in their coloring.