With only one weekend day to enjoy, I decided to try my luck in Queens in 2 parks I never visited before, Alley Pond Park (I have only visited the Nature Center side) and Kissena Park. The earlier being more fruitful than the latter (party my fault, late start-- sleep was nice).
With a September day feeling muggy and hot, it felt more like Early August. When I got to Alley Pond Park, the fog still lingered, it had cleared when I left Brooklyn. But in a way that worked out, as it seems to have kept much of the insects dormant and gave a nice burst of birds once it cleared. At least it felt that way. All my photos are from Alley Pond- Kissena seemed promising, but by noon, it was just too hot with little going on aside from robins and catbirds.
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A charismatic common yellowthroat. These birds were true to their name today, quite common! |
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A really welcome surprise, a worm eating warbler in close range eat berries-- or insects eating the berries next to one of the ponds in the park. Having never traveled to this park, or portion of the park before. I walked what looked like trails. Some got a little brushy. This one lead to the South side of a pond (that shows up on a map, but is either just mud with a lot of phragmites, or a very small pond, concealed by a lot of phragmites. Anyway, I found a lot of places where people might skulk about- trash and littered bottles, so I was a bit weary-- but then it got pretty birdy. More important was to pay closer attention to where I stood, poison ivy reached across the narrow trail and I definitely stepped in some a few times today.
This was a favorite bird that I saw today. I ran into another person in the park, assuming he was also looking for birds. When he asked me if I have seen anything good today, I mentioned that I enjoyed running into a worm-eating warbler. He basically was so dissatisfied with my answer. "Oh, but they're not very colorful." People. |
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I enjoyed watching a small group of red-eyed vireos feed happily on these fleshy seeded fruits. They dangled and stuffed their beaks with what they could. Aren't they just absolutely seductive looking? I really liked how this bird just stared me down, like as if to taunt me, knowing how badly I'd love to capture it in a frame or twenty... |
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It must be awesome to be fearless doing this. Knowing that if you fall, you have wings to lift you back up again. I'm jealous, I am so scared of heights, and dangling |
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I counted 6 ruby-throated hummingbirds today. I saw counts as high as 12 yesterday. |
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This little bird is perched on a thick wire for the adventure course within the park. The line almost as thick as the bird itself. |
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This bird is a female or immature bird. Adult males possess that iridescent ruby throat patch that gives them their name. |
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My most favorite thing about this little bird--- LOOK AT THOSE LITTLE FEETS WITH LITTLE HUMMINGBIRD TALONS! |
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Why so many hummingbirds? Jewelweed is in bloom EVERYWHERE. And these little birds need to fuel up for their journey all the way down to Mexico and Central America. |
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A fun view from the back, of that green that oddly lets them blend in quite well and hovering wings at work. |
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Anyone up for a quick game of baseball? I hope no one fouls one back within this back stop. I do not think these bald faced hornets would be too happy-- would definitely charge the mound. |
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