Dennis Edge
How many bird species have you seen in New York City? Dennis Edge, an East Village photographer, has scored an amazing 88 species in and around Tompkins Square Park. That’s just the ones he’s photographed. He’s probably seen twice that.
The East Village photographer gave a talk Thursday night in Stuyvesant Town to an enthusiastic crowd of birders. Dennis, who is working on a photo book of his finds, put his pictures in a slideshow, explaining how people could tell them apart–either by feather markings or sometimes by sound.
He also offered his impression of each species personality. The brown creeper is ” a little charmer.” The brown thrasher was “very secretive and didn’t want me to catch him.”
Some of his impressive and rare sightings: an indigo bunting (only seen once); cedar waxwing (only seen in a community garden); ruby-throated hummingbird (on the butterfly bushes in Tompkins). He’s even photographed a monk parrot, which nests in the outerboroughs, but is rarely seen in Manhattan.
When he showed his photo of a woodcock the crowd really got excited: one had appeared on the Stuyvesant Oval two years ago. Dennis figured that since the area was once wetland, they were somehow drawn here. This one hung out “across from the men’s room” in Tompkins, Dennis said.
My favorite Dennis Edge pictures are the ones he’s taken of hawks over the years. Since people have become more careful about killing them with DDT and rat poison, red tails have come back in a big way. Red tails were the bird that got Dennis started; he saw a hawk on a garbage can eating a pigeon. Now there’s abut 10 known nests in Manhattan and about 60 in New York City.
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Thanks for posting this hummingbird info! I love hummingbirds!
Hummingbirds are beautiful. I love them! Thanks for posting this info!
I’d try the Ramble and/or North Woods in Central Park. And maybe the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge (though that may be more for New Yorkers who want a place that doesn’t look at all like NYC)
Hi I am travelling to New York in October, would you be able to recommend the best photo areas. I love wildlife, and definately want to hit brooklyn bridge.
If you will send me your telephone # by e-mail I would like to talk with you; please tell me in the e mail what is the best time for my call? Thank you, Fellow Pip Fan!
In an article I read, you referred to the Red-tailed hawk, currently known as Violet at the NYU Bobst Library – as the East Village Dominatrix. I am trying to learn if these two RTs are truly one and the same … trying to learn her history. Do you by any chance have any photos showing her legs? We know that at some point her right leg was injured and would just really like to learn more.
I am not a professional, I am just trying to learn. I have become fastenated with them since watching the “Live From the Nest” cam provided by the New York Times.
Thank you so very much.
PS. I am not asking to purchase any photos …I live on social security in North Carolina … but if you could just tell me if her right leg was injured and the date of your photographic evidence … you will make this old woman very happy, indeed!
Thank you for your time,
Cheryl Ann Kingston
You’ve got great insights about nature photography, keep up the good work!