Jon
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Activity 2 - Living in New York City we don't have access to an outdoor space from our apartment. However we do keep our cats indoors and do not use pesticides on the little bit of urban gardening that we do from our fire escape. We are very mindful in our use of plastics including bags and straws and always have a reusable bag with us. The biggest way I have worked to help protect birds is that I have become a monthly donor for the Wild Bird Fund here in NYC that works to help injured birds (and other animals) rehabilitate. Most of these birds are window strike victims during their migration. I have also encouraged my company to donate gifts to their annual fundraiser to help raise additional money that will help them. We will also be working on future events together to fundraise more. As far as other ways I can help, I will start looking for bird friendly and/or shade grown coffee and will begin using EBird to track all of my sightings that can then be used to help track birds.
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Activity 1 : Yesterday I went birding on Randall's Island here in NYC. I visited 3 spots on the Island. The first spot, known as Little Hellgate, was a small salt marsh with some some minimal trees that run alongside the water. In this area I watched yellow rumped warblers flying around in branches chasing insects, pine siskins and house finches perched in the top of the trees, a juvenile black crowned night heron fishing in the shallow water, and a double breasted cormorant swimming for fish. The second location I stopped at were the ballfields. This area was open and grassy and was abundant with different species of sparrows and some palm warblers. The last area is known as Bronx Kill and is a small inlet where I saw Canada Geese and Mallards resting in the shallow water before they began the next part of their migration.
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Activity 1 : Last weekend while birding in Central Park I spotted a small brown bird climbing the trunk of a tree. The way it was moving up the tree and pecking at the wood for insects was an immediate indication it was likely a Brown Creeper. I was able to confirm this once I got my binoculars on it. The shape of the bird and its beak was also a clear indication. Out of many of the birds I've seen while in the field, this bird is a standout example of identifying a bird based on it's behavior.
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In our backyard here in Queens NYC we have a family of 5 Northern Cardinals. The Male, Female, and 3 juveniles. This past week we started to see them out together a lot more throughout our backyard and the ones surrounding it. The Male and Female would fly to different areas of the yards and call their young to follow. We watched as they seemingly were teaching them how to do different things such as cleaning their bills. We also watched as they fed them and seemingly showed them how to forage for food. While both the Male and Female are present, it seems as though the majority of the back and forth between the juveniles and the parents is done by the female and the young with the male nearby and involved but not as much.
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Activity 4 - My favorite birding spot is Central Park here in NYC, more specifically The Ramble. Over the last few weeks the birds I see continue to change. Right now I am seeing less warblers than I saw just a week ago. This week we started to see Ruby and Golden Crwoned Kinglets. We are starting to see more varieties of sparrows as well. Over the next few weeks this will continue to change as many of these species are migratory and are just stopping by briefly on their way south. 6 Months from now will be spring migration in which we'll then again see a lot of the same species. However in a couple months from now we'll only see the birds that stick around through the winter such as Cardinals, Blue Jays, Sparrows, and waterfowl.
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One of my favorite birds is the Magnolia Warbler. I saw multiple this past weekend while birding in Central Park. I was able to identify the Magnolia based on a few key factors. I know this was a warbler because we are in Fall migration here in the city and it is common to see them right now. The magnolias were yellow on their belly and chest with black stripes as a necklace, they hada white wing patch and wingbars of black and white, and the males had a gray crown with a black mask.
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