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urbandinosaurs

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Steve Bellovin's photography.
Mostly, but not entirely, nature.
Mostly, but not entirely, urban.
Mostly, but not entirely, birds—which are, of course, dinosaurs

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urbandinosaurs , to random
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Sometimes, I go looking for birds; sometimes, the birds find me. In fact, I had dozed off and the calls woke me…
A pair of common ravens, one on a roof and one on the ground. The one on the ground then flew to another roof.
Western Massachusetts. (Video in the next post.)

A raven on the ground with some dead vegetation in its beak.
A raven on a roof, vocalizing.

urbandinosaurs , to random
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Finally: a Swainson's thrush, a bay-breasted warbler, and a water thrush—I'm not sure if it's a northern or a Louisiana water thrush.

A ¾ left profile view of the bird on a thin branch.
A ¾ right profile view of the bird on a log, with water in the background.

urbandinosaurs , to random
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A few of my pictures from yesterday (more coming tomorrow…). The first three are from Central Park in NYC: a great egret that has just speared a fish on both parts of its beak (Harlem Meer), a spotted sandpiper (Pool), and a black-and-white warbler (also Pool). Last, at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, two common raven chicks in a nest behind St. Andrew's head. They're getting big!

A sandpiper walking along, just in the water from a sandy/rocky short. The reflection of the bird in the water is visible.
There is a moderately thick branch ascending at a 45༠ angle. The warbler is on the side of the branch, facing head-down.
There is a large nest behind the saint’s head. Two ravens are visible to the right side of the head. One is mostly obscured; the other is very visible.

urbandinosaurs , to random
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I spent much of today taking pictures. I first went to Richard DeKorte Park in the New Jersey Meadowlands. The park—well, let's put it like this; there are methane release pipes around the place and one gets there via Disposal Road. But there are lots of birds. So: a tree swallow, a pair of tree swallows in courtship behavior, a herring gull that has scored a crab, and a yellowlegs (but I'm not sure if it's a greater or lesser yellowlegs). 1/2

A pair of tree swallows atop a nesting box. They both have their mouths open, behavior called “gaping”.
A left profile view of the gull. Its head is turned to the left; it has a crab in its beak.
A left profile view of the bird wading in the water.

urbandinosaurs , to random
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I was in Midtown Manhattan today, so I visited the southern part of Central Park. A double-crested cormorant posed nicely on a branch in the water, while a great egret was preening itself on a branch. Meanwhile, in the Hallet Sanctuary, a raccoon was perched on top of a frequent hangout for them. This is the third straight trip to Central Park where I've seen raccoons during the day, in three different parts of the park, so I guess it is normal for them.

A great egret with windblown feathers, perched on a branch. The upper part of the background is dark; the lower part is green and leafy.
A raccoon perched atop a dead tree, looking down. The background is backlit green leaves.

urbandinosaurs , to random
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In NYC's Central Park: a yellow-rumped warbler at the pool, a tree swallow in flight over the Harlem Meer while an osprey watches from high above, and a common raven atop a stone cross at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.
1/2

A swallow swooping low over the water.
A profle of an osprey on a high tree overlooking the water.
The raven is perched on top of a stone crucifix. There are white birds droppings down the side of the cross.

urbandinosaurs , to random
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A lovely afternoon in NYC's Central Park. Best of all was a rusty blackbird, a lifer for me. There was also a red-winged blackbird, making its less-than-lovely noises, a hermit thrush, and an eastern towhee, the latter two being my first-of-season. 1/2

The blackbird is on a branch with its beak open.
A right profile view of the thrush. It’s on bare ground with some dead leaves around it.
A left profile view of the towhee, It’s on a rock outcrop, with dead leaves in a cleft behind it.

urbandinosaurs OP ,
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No spring bird picture would be complete without some warblers. So: a palm warbler, a golden-crowned kinglet, and a black-and-white kinglet. No, that picture isn't upside down, or was the camera… And last—is it a very hairy (and large) woodpecker in that tree? No idea why the raccoon was awake at 3:00 in the afternoon, but it was. It got very concerned when some (leashed) dogs walked by. 2/2

The bird is on a thin, bare branch, with blue sky behind it.
There is a branch slanting down about 30༠ off vertical. At the end of the branch, the warbler is perched, upside down.
A raccoon on a branch near the trunk of a larger tree, looking to its right and hence directly at the camera.

urbandinosaurs , to random
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In Central Park this afternoon, an eastern phoebe, a red-winged blackbird, a common grackle, and a wind-blown great egret. I had thought the grackle was collecting nesting material, but later pictures in the sequence show it without anything in its beak.

A right profile view of a blackbird, with its head towards me. It is perched on the very end of a thin reed; there are others behind it.
The grackle has what appears to be dried grass in its beak. It is standing near the water, amidst some green shoots; in front of it is lower growth.
A left profile view of the egret. It’s standing on a ~10 cm thick branch, with its back towards a leafy section. The wind is blowing its feathers around. Its neck is mostly retracted.

urbandinosaurs , to random
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After all that driving and stress to see the eclipse—which were very well worth it!—it was also nice to take a quiet walk and see this red-bellied woodpecker in New York City's Riverside Park.

urbandinosaurs , to random
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I went to Central Park in NYC late this afternoon. It was quite productive: an eastern phoebe, a gadwall (there were two, but the photo of the female isn't great), a pair of green-winged teals, and a winter wren. (I also saw my FOS ice cream truck but that doesn't count…)

A right side profile of a gadwall. Its beak is dripping water.
A pair of teals. The female, on a rock, is sleeping with its head tucked in; the male, in the water in the foreground, was preening. There are some bare branches on the right.
A left profile view of the wren. It’s on a rock, with some lichen-covered rock behind it, and some crevices.

urbandinosaurs , to random
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One of the Morningside Heights common ravens, here perched in a tree in Morningside Park in NYC.

urbandinosaurs , to random
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Not many birds in the Berkshires at this time of year, but I got some nice photos: an American tree sparrow (a lifer!), my best-ever photo of an Eastern bluebird, and a black-capped chickadee.

A profile view of an eastern bluebird. The blue and its orange belly are both very bright, with no enhancement of the coloring. It's perched on a bare twig.
A profile view of a chickadee, on a thin, bare branch amidst many other such thin branches.

urbandinosaurs , to random
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A beaver (I think it's a beaver and not a muskrat…) and the pond it's reflecting in.

A still pond, with the trees on the far side reflected by the water.

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