 Dr. Robert “Birding Bob” DeCandido leads birding tours around New York City. Usually he takes people to see owls in Central Park, which he helped reintroduce. He lets us run his newsletter here. This week he saw a northern Saw-whet owl in Central Park and the carcass of a woodcock.
Northern Saw-Whet Owl, by Richard Leche
The carcasses are in bloom! Yellow and purple and some white – or so it was on Sunday when we were in for other surprises as well. On our walks, we were able to provide discussions of the age of migrating Saw-whet Owls (including photos by Debs), American Woodcocks and more in Central Park in the last several days – by our group. We think with birds…and to find them, we have to think like birds too.
Our historical notes include a NYC area summary of the spring season – 1920. Today, our observations show that many bird species are arriving earlier than in the past. Why? We will leave it to others to explain. In the meantime, we document the changes, and provide the historical record for comparison. We also provide the first records of breeding Tree Swallows in our area. Now they are common breeders at Jamaica Bay and elsewhere on Long Island – but not 90 years ago!
Not had enough of us yet? Beginning the first week of April, our Sunday and Tuesday walks will begin meeting at the Dock on Turtle Pond.=====================================Good! Here are the bird walks
Keep reading Birding Bob; Northern Saw-whet Owl Stops in Central Park; Woodcocks in the East Village
 Manhattan’s Samantha the Raven
Birding Bob (also known Dr. Robert DeCandido) is a biologist who leads popular and easy to understand tours in Central Park. He lets us publish his newsletter that goes out to his many fans.
With all the talk of Ravens possibly nesting in NYC (Queens), we went back into the historical record to see what we could find out about these corvids in NYC. In a dusty, yellowing journal we found a brief note published in the mid-19th century. It seems as though Ravens must have been occasional visitors to Brooklyn and Long Island back then – see below.
This week we add another bird walk to the mix: Tuesday mornings at 9am, meeting at the Boathouse (details below). Meanwhile, our NYC kestrel research is getting some attention – from outside of New York City! And later this year, Deborah and I will have an article in a national publication about NYC Kestrels.You can find information (in 14 languages!) about NYC kestrels here.We have some very good news to report. Our colleague Chad Seewagen (soon to be PhD) had another scientific paper published on his research here in NYC on how migrant birds fare during stopover times in New York City Parks. The research was published in the prestigious Wilson Journal of Ornithology. Congratulations Chad – may you publish many more.
Another of our bird-walkers, Bill Benish, has created an on-line guide to the largest woodpeckers in the world – here’s the
Keep reading Birding Bob: The History of Ravens, Whales and Dolpins in NYC
 Birding Bob (also known Dr. Robert DeCandido) send a report from Thailand. Birding Bob is a biologist who leads popular tours in Central Park. Here’s where his pictures are posted.
Thailand (mostly raptor) photos: Surprise Surprise…near this national park (Kaeng Krachan in Thailand), there is a very slow (dial-up) internet service. I can now send and receive messages albeit very slowly.
So, do you want to know about the 10 foot King Cobra that was within about five feet of me (I did not move – more on this is a second); or do you want to know about the Red-legged Crakes, Orange-headed Thrushes; Great Pitta, Mouse Deer and some others that I was watching from a blind? Well, the two stories really are one – let me begin by writing that two of the folks I know here approached a few local poachers to set up water holes (well the poachers had the water holes already set up – about seven), and my two friend promised to bring tourists and charge them money and pay the poachers a fee.
So on Wednesday afternoon a few minutes after I arrived, I found myself walking into the forest – and then sitting down in a fairly comfortable hide (= blind; there are about six hides near this first water hole). Not much happened from 2-4pm but then as the light got a bit dimmer, all sorts of birds began to arrive. The absolute highlight were the Red-legged Crakes who chased
Keep reading Cobra Watches Central Park’s Birding Bob as He Watches Red-legged Crakes in Thailand
 Dr. Robert “Birding Bob” DeCandido leads birding tours around New York City. Usually he takes people to see owls in Central Park, which he helped reintroduce. This week he lead a tour of the Empire State Building at night to see birds migrating by–and the peregrine falcons who want to eat them. Here’s his report to his followers this week. Not from this trip, but here’s a picture of a peregrine seen from the Empire State Building.Photo here courtesy of Mike ZienowiczHello All,
Sunday Evening, 30 August (Night Migration at the Empire State Building) – as I stood outside the Empire State Building (ESB) at 6:25pm, I cursed the weatherman, the wind direction and life in general. The forecast was for westerly winds by 7pm or so, but the few scattered clouds above us sure looked like they were coming up from the southwest. Such winds would insure we would see no migrants. As the hopeful gathered, I offered the option of just canning the trip up to the top – we could use the tickets any time in the next two years. However, there were no takers – people had psyched themselves into going up there, and many had not made a trip in several years (decades). One of us (a native New Yorker) had never been up there yet…
So up we went – along the way, I met Security Guards who remembered me (“hey birdman“) and we exchanged smiles and hugs – they telling me excitedly
Keep reading Birders Watch Peregrine Falcon at Empire State Building Watching Migrants
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