'Yaking

The view from my kayak.

     It has been an entire summer and I finally took my kayak out for the first, and sadly, probably last time. My kayak lives at my parents' house out on Long Island because keeping a kayak in my apartment wouldn't be impossible, but it would be a challenge and a half. But if I had it here, I would probably find more time to go for a paddle.
     My adventure today took my mother, my best friend Pam, and myself to Empire Kayaks, the place where I actually purchased my kayak from. The people here are always nice to us, the salt marsh is full of stuff to find, and it is where my husband asked me to marry him (yes, in a kayak) so it holds a special place in my heart. If you want a nice place to paddle an explore, check out Empire in Island Park, NY, they rent kayaks of all kinds, they will show you the basics, and ocean kayaks, the kind I use, are very stable and you sit on top, so if you fall out, which isn't impossible (as I have done it), you can easily get back in.
     On our paddle we saw lots of birds, a few terrapins popped their heads up, one sad, washed up, dead eastern box turtle, which I am not sure if it was someones escaped "pet" or if they actually live around this area, and some fish below in the water. It was a beautiful day, and using my "real" camera on the kayak was a challenge, especially when you had to put down your paddle for a few seconds to snap a picture and the wind in that time blew you backward about 15-20 feet.

Lesser yellowlegs stand upon some dried seaweed.

A young semipalmated plover.

This gives you an idea of how hard it can sometimes be to spot a bird. When they move is really when you see them, otherwise they are fairly easy to just paddle right by. A young spotted sandpiper is foraging in the mud.

It seems like it's a day for immature birds, this is a juvenile yellow crowned night heron.  I wonder who his stylist is, love the 'do.

A shy snowy egret flies off.

No idea what this is... it kind of matches a semipalmated sandpiper, but, I am still puzzled by this one.

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!

New Beginnings

The view from Lookout Hill, looking out over the area I live all the way down to the parachute drop in Coney Island.

     Normally I do not have the chance to go for a walk on a Monday, but recently I just ended my time working as a zoo educator so I could start a new adventure. Beginning (very) soon, I will be a New York City public school teacher at a high school here in Brooklyn. I am very excited for this new phase in my life and also very nervous (but in the good way, if there is such a way). Last friday was my last day at the zoo and I have this "free" time, I use the term free loosely because I am also trying to get myself organized with some of the things that were passed onto me from all my teacher friends. One thing that I am very excited about is that Prospect Park will act as a classroom on some days which is just absolutely wonderful.
     I took a walk through Prospect this afternoon. The weather was weird, it could be a bit chilly, but pretty warm in the sun. The sun came in and out of the clouds and the park was very bright, I squinted a lot, and I do not like wearing sunglasses, so that is my own problem. Enjoy what I saw through my squinted eyes:

A nice juvenile male wood duck.

Wood duck males grow up to be stunning birds. Males take on a bright green head and a contrasting chestnut body, females look pretty much like this. We can tell this one is a male though by its markings, the white chin strap and the yellow around the eye, and you can even see a bit of green on the top of his head.

As their name implies, these ducks love wood! They are perching ducks, meaning they perch up on trees and even nest in tree hollows. This young fella a few weeks ago had to take a leap out of his tree nest and land safely on the ground. This is pretty much free falling, as they are literally tiny little ducklings!

A male downy woodpecker.

A young mourning dove needs to be careful, he was literally walking next to me, with little fear.

A very beautiful orb web. Also, a very beautiful spider, there were a few of these in the area. Saw this little one walking up to Lookout Hill.

So if this does not blow you away, well, then, I feel bad for you. Katydids always amaze me with how well natural selection worked out for them. These insects are in the same family as grasshoppers and crickets. This one was out in the open, but any passerby would surely over look this gorgeous creature.

A closer look... it even has the veins of the leaves, just so flippin' neat!!! Katydids are named because of the sound they make, a buzzing with syllables that make it sound like it is saying in monotone buzzing, "KA-TY-DID." You can hear them stand out in this youtube video.

A fallen sassafras leaf  foreshadows the coming of autumn...

Pollination.

Found some goldfinches near the top of Lookout Hill.

These birds have a very distinct call and flight patten, making them easy to identify.

The male goldfinch in particular is very easy to identify.

A young mockingbird was flitting about very clumsily in this shrub. You can tell it's a youngin' by the yellow corners of its mouth. 

SQUIRREL!

My Favorite Sparrow

    I wrote last winter about some interesting birds living around the Central Park Zoo where I work. I have always noticed one male house sparrow with piebald coloration especially on his primary feathers (the long feathers at the wing tips). I have literally seen him at least 1-2 times per week since I began working there in November of 2011. I love seeing him and his blaze of white when he flies. I had my camera on me today and as I left work, I was able to snap some photos of him as he showed off his awesome and unique plumage...

Showing off. 

I didn't realize the blaze of white also present on his "shoulder." That is anatomically though equivalent to our wrist.

... And he also has a little white collar too!

... And tail feathers!

I worked with a small group of teens every Saturday and during one of our birdwatching activities, I mentioned this guy, and sure enough we saw him and the kids named him "Jack Sparrow." 

He has something yummy!

Blurry, but you can get a sense of how gorgeous this little common house sparrow is in flight... 

Cemetery Walk

     We are currently in "baby watch" mode as we prepare to welcome our future niece to the family, she is bound to make her appearance any day now, but in the meantime we have the chance to spend some time with visiting family. My mother-in-law stayed with us last night and she, my husband, and I went for a walk this afternoon in Greenwood Cemetery. The cemetery is always lovely to walk through with its impressive monuments, mausoleums, and beautiful views of Manhattan as it contains the highest point in Brooklyn. We had a lovely walk with some fun surprises, enjoy:

This scraggly young robin has his feather ruffled over something...

 

A mourning dove - named because it's call (commonly confused for an owl) sounds sad and mournful.

A dragonfly finds a very interesting sign to bask on. And the hill was indeed full of graves.

The rolling hills within the cemetery provide some amazing views.

Views of downtown Manhattan and the Freedom Tower.

No wonder dragonflies are amazing hunters, look at those eyes! He looks like a fighter pilot. This guy was so cute, he moved his head around a lot, he was looking at something interesting. 

Some of the dragonflies buzzing about were so large they cast very noticeable shadows on the ground.

The large clouds provided a neat background for this statue of the Roman Goddess Minerva, up near the Civil War Monument.

I heard a lot of squabbling and noise that sounded like upset mockingbirds, and then I saw not only the upset mockingbirds, but a red tailed hawk that was clearly upsetting them. In his talons (it was a small hawk- so I am going to assume it was male) you can see his prize, a squirrel.

Not a good quality picture, but the mockingbirds repeatedly took shots at him and hit him hard. The hawk just sat and let it happen. Mockingbirds are notoriously territorial, it doesn't matter how big or small, they don't pick on anything their own size, even people get attacked by nesting mockingbirds.

A mockingbird tells the hawk what's up, but the hawk seems to ignore. 

Always love seeing red tails, such cool birds!

I like how both statue and bird have found something interesting up above.