Under the Brooklyn Bridge

Once you "antiquify" any photo of the Brooklyn Bridge, it's like you traveled back in time. I took this today and added some filter to it.

     I spent the first half of my day on a wonderful adventure with my friend, Judy (who also happens to have an amazing blog: http://whileatthezoo.com), at the Staten Island Zoo. I biked from Brooklyn to Manhattan, then took the Staten Island Ferry with Judy from Manhattan to Staten Island, and finally, the bus to the zoo. A triathlon of a commute!
     On my bike ride home, I found the bike path that takes you along the East River, cleverly named the East River Bike Path - it isn't as nice as the one on the west side, but unlike the west side, it has some iconic bridges it passes under. I stopped under the Brooklyn Bridge because a lone cormorant caught my eye, then as I got off the path toward the rails of the walkway, hulls, geese, pigeons, and sparrows were hanging out. on the rocks and pebbles revealed by the low tide.
     Why take pictures and watch the most common birds of NYC, one may ask? Well, you have to appreciate the beauty in what's around you, here, you'll see:

A double crested cormorant finds its place amongst the gulls.

He may look worn out, but those eyes! Pigeons put up with a lot of mean people, we as a whole try to poison them, chase them, throw things at them, and some people eat them. Huge thanks to birds that were once considered war heroes.

I also love the purple iridescence around this guy's neck. 

Pigeons are also amazing- they come in many body forms (via artificial selection - breeding by people, is what I mean by that), colors, and patterns. Pigeons helped inspire and influence Darwin's theory of Natural Selection as he bred pigeons for selected traits and saw how traits were passed on from one generation to the next.

This pigeon is called a "checker" for the checker patterns on its feathers. Pigeons are also super smart and adaptable, and they have amazing personalities.

A ring billed gull takes a high perch on this wood piling. 

I kind of love how this happened. One bird landed as another took off behind this stationary herring gull.

Gorgeous!