December Birding

     I've been a little slow on the posting. Either I'm sidetracked or tired. We don't even have a kid yet and it feels like all time is sacred, more so than ever. At least for me. So if I'm tired after birding, I just rest... or clean the house. So here is a dump of photos from two weeks of birding and happily all my birding this month has been with friends.
     Happy winter solstice, y'all!

Two weeks ago, I went on a birding walk led by my wonderful friend and equally wonderful birder, Jeffrey in the Bronx at Pelham Bay Park.
This little chickadee came close, allured by seeds left out by others.

I love trash pandas when they are not in my roof. This one was sharing a hollow with another overlooking the beautiful bay.

One of two chilly killdeer.

LOOK.
AT.
ALL.
THESE.
GRACKLES!!!!!!!!

A very Hitchcock moment, with these hundreds of common grackles.
It made me think if this was even close to what it was like to experience passenger pigeons. You read about how they would dim the light of day as their flocks flew overhead. It made me sad that no one will ever experience that because people literally shot them all dead, treating them as a nuisance.
And then they were extinct.

It made this moment, with a large group of super common birds all the more sweet. Savoring a sight and imagining what it might have been like. And just another reason to enjoy every common bird and appreciate its very presence.

Last week I participated in the Kings County Christmas Bird Count, but with grey, misty conditions I opted to leave the camera home.
But for today's winter solstice Feminist Bird Club walk in Prospect Park, also led by Jeffrey, the sun was shining and despite cold temperatures, it was pretty pleasant out there.
Also, look at this little white-throated sparrow tongue!

We experienced very round mourning doves at the Vale of Cashmere.

A very cute white-throated sparrow.

Very cute.

One of the stars today: Cooper's Hawk.
This juvenile was close just off the trail over the lullwater and the reason why we saw no birds at the feeder area.

Then we saw a mature cooper's hawk, just flew right in and landed in the tree above and in front of us.

And it vocalized, a lot!
We all thought about if we ever heard a Coop before. I personally cannot recall, but this one was a loud mouth!

Also, very nice looking bird.

Also the stars of the day, out-of-water American Coots.

THOSE FEETS.

One often does not get the chance to appreciate coot feets, because they are almost always submerged, But today we got 4 pairs of feets to enjoy!

Those lobed feet help them swim, dive, and nom on aquatic plants. Since most of the lake was iced over, these birds opted to cross the ice and eat some grass.

A few sneaky wood ducks among all the shovelers and coots was how we ended our walk.