Doodletown to Brooklyn

     This last Friday I was able to pay my annual spring visit to Doodletown and bring along some extra friends to share the experience with. Today, I spent the morning at Green-Wood Cemetery, oddly where I would usually devote my Sundays I can officially say now, a year ago.
     Doodletown had many of the things we hoped to see, Cerulean warblers being one and a bonus visit to Sterling Forest gave us our Golden-winged Warblers.
     Green-Wood treated me to a darling family or Common Ravens and Baked in Brooklyn. The Cinnamon Roll I picked up was ridiculous (in the good way).
     With the trees fully leaved, seeing birds is getting harder. I have been trying to use my ears more and get excited for ID'ing birds by sound alone.

We saw a lot of indigo buntings in Doodletown.
BUT THIS IS A BLUE GROSBEAK.
:)

Sear on my life this is a singing Cerulean Warbler.
In Doodletown, I have a spot where I first saw a cerulean. And another year saw one feeding its chick, and year after year it is my reliable spot. I explained this to my friends and then looked and we found this bird singing its face off. I find it funny how we habitually develop a particular "bird spot." This one, thankfully delivers.

On another trail, I mentioned how two of us saw a yellow-throated vireo over here last year. And then just chomping into my granola bar, this one flies in low.

A low treat!
Glad I was able to get a few okay captures. Because I literally had a granola bar hanging out of my mouth.

Saw a few flycatchers, including this great-creasted flycatcher. We also, positively saw an Eastern Wood-Pewee and Olive-sided Flycatcher.

SO HAPPY TO SEE A SNEK!
We saw a Northern Water Snake from the damn, basking on a rock below.

This one really stumped us
Turned out to be a female indigo bunting!

Upon our arrival to Sterling Forest, we didn't even get out of the car before our first exciting bird, a VERY compliant black-billed cuckoo!

What great looks it gave us!
For our friend, Jeana, this was a life bird-- rather it was, she found our only one in Doodletown. This one gave her bonus looks to soak in that loafy dollop of bird.

It was joined by a second, and equally compliant bird!
How lucky we were!

So fun thing we learned, and observed. When prairie warblers squabble over turf, they sing and fight at the same time, which just makes for a very comical sight.

Target bird achieved. A fast look. The blur of this bird is appropriate for its blink-of-an-eye appearance.
The Golden-winged warbler, known for nesting , specifically, in this place.

Also, it's banded. Unfortunately, can't get a full read.

A blue winged warbler. Not a golden-winged, but known to hybridize with the golden to create a "Brewster's Warbler."
The blue-winged gave us a lovely clear sight that we did not get in Doodletown.

Basic Frog.

This.
This little tiny snek. Not even a soba noodle, it's an angel hair pasta.
It's a baby Northern Water Snake!

These little babies develop in eggs that the mother retains. So the babies are born from their mom. Mom would look like what we saw in Doodletown.

We got a chance to see it up close and release it on the side of the road, as opposed to the middle of it. We nearly stepped on this little buddy!

Today in Green-Wood Cemetery, I said hi to my favorite denizen of the Dell Water, GREG.
Lots of little snacks were being had. 

Little snack.
Sorry, Little Snack.

I was super excited to see 5 ravens at once! 

This one seemed especially needy.

The pink showing around the corners of this birds mouth suggests it is a youngster. A fledgling, finding its wings, following its parents, still begging for food, while learning the lay of the land and workings of its wings.

I usually se our ravens here in Brooklyn in flight, so to see much of the family perched and interacting with one another was an especially wonderful treat!

Also a treat, my (finally) first of the year Canada Warbler. These are one of my top warblers. I love the eye rings, that delicate necklace, and how lucky was I this this little bird put on a show, stopping every so often to sing.

But really not compliant for photos. Ah well, I still savored the solid 5 minutes I got to observe this bird for.

Found this red tail hawk due to the ruckus of robins, mockingbirds, and sparrows.
It was donked in the head a number of times by some diving mockingbirds before moving on.

Who's having a good day? I suppose it matters who you pose that question to...
The spotted sandpiper, pretty good.
The Red Admiral, flat out awful.