Monday, November 23, 2015

Court Street Royalty in the Heart of Wooster Square!

Ruby Crowned Kinglet!


Birding can be funny. We recently moved, but just across Wooster Square Park. Court Street dissects the park on the east side. Each side is lined by Historic Brownstones. I was heading off to the gym and was taking photos for the Wooster Square Blossom Blog. 

Court Street

Then I see it, a tiny bird fliting in and out of bushes.
Unfortunately, I didn't have my 400mm, but this little guy let me get close enough with  my 28-135mm.

A first for me. 

Why is birding funny? Well, you don't go looking for birds and there one is. Yesterday I saw a falcon for the third day in a row, I quickly outfitted the camera and out the door. Nothing. All the way to the gym, not a one tiny peep! Didn't see any birds!  

Enjoy this little birding on Court Street, New Haven.



































Birds Rule!

 

Friday, November 6, 2015

Anniversary Birding and Fall Migration!

Urban Birding at its bountiful best!

Cheryl asked me what we wanted to do for our anniversary, of course I said let's go birding! Fall, here in New Haven (the #gscia, Greatest Small city in America), we have abundant aviary ascending and assemblage. 

Urban Wonderland

At Lighthouse Point Park, at the mouth of New Haven Harbor, you will strike Migration Mania! Lighthouse is even manned daily as an Audubon Hawk/Raptor watch. They count the eagles, osprey, and such! Always a good reference if you need some help identifying birds. Of course, my go to source on the go is the Cornell labs Merlin, an app you can get from apple and android. But be aware, a separate memory card should be used because the file is huge!

Mostly, I identify birds when I get back, or on the spot. Cheryl and I are relatively new at birding, but have always had an interest. When I found shooting them with the camera, I have time to see the bird and consult my books for identification. Enough talk, here are a bunch of photos. some not so great, as I had to tweak them to show the species better or just plain get in closer by cropping!

Enjoy!

Cormorant looking at me as he flies over

Swamp Sparrow, some migrate, some stay!

These next group are all a group of 
Eastern Phoebes, a small flycatcher
migrating through New Haven.





















In action!













Hawk Watchers

Yellow Warbler in East Shore Park

Many monarchs migrate through New Haven too.





And one day biking in East Shore Park, I caught these geese that are fairly rare. The breed in the arctic and winter along the east and west coasts. They are called Brants!








Surfing USA!

Catbird
Tree Swallow Migrating has a bee in its beak!





Then a Northern Harrier flew by...






A check on our Eagles in Hamden found this
Great Blue Heron perched.


In trees nearby was an adult Bald Eagle
and a juvenile









Nobody move! I dropped a contact!

Finally, the Great Blue took off and landed on 
its nest, then the juvenile bald eagle 
flew by so I could get some nice fall shots!









Thanks for stopping by the Urban Birding Blog!

Birds Rule!
(Butterflies are cool too)