1. For me, the most exciting thing in April was the installation of my bird photo banners in City Hall Park as a NYC Parks public art project.
The 20 banners are attached to the fence along the path north of City Hall and show some of the most common birds you can see in the park, as well as a few of the regularly visiting migrating birds. The banners are designed to call attention to the many types of wild birds sharing neighborhood spaces with us, and to encourage efforts to make urban parks more attractive for wildlife as well as people.
The City Hall Park bird banners are scheduled to stay up for a year. You can look through a booklet with more information about the birds on the banners at my website: gailkarlsson.com. (Meanwhile, my Battery Park bird banners are still up four years later.)
The City Hall Park banners include: American Crow, American Kestrel, American Robin, Black-and-white Warbler, Blue Jay, Common Grackle, Eastern Towhee, European Starling, Gray Catbird, Hermit Thrush, House Sparrow, Mourning Dove, Northern Cardinal, Northern Flicker, Northern Mockingbird, Northern Parula, Ovenbird, Red-tailed Hawk, White-throated Sparrow and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.
2. Members of the Friends of City Hall Park volunteer group are collaborating with the Local Nature Lab on a project to conduct monthly park surveys to collect information about selected trees, and to document the presence of birds and animals through the seasons. The data from the surveys can be helpful in making recommendations for managing the parks and protecting valuable trees and wildlife. localnaturelab.com
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| Dark-eyed Junko in City Hall Park |
Early in the morning on April 15, I went out with my friend (and expert birder) Sara Ogger to do a survey the birds in City Hall Park. Among the birds on our list were:
12 wintering White-throated Sparrows that hadn’t yet started moving north to nest;
6 American Robins foraging on the lawns;
2 American Crows collecting sticks for a nest they were trying to put together on a building across the street from the park;
1 Hairy Woodpecker, the first I have seen in City Hall Park;
2 Dark-eyed Junkos (some are year-round in NY state and other northeast states);
2 Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers heading towards northern forests to nest, along with
2 Ruby-crowned Kinglets and
1 Palm Warbler.
3. On April 27, I joined Marieke Bender and the Battery Park City Authority birding group for one of their regular Monday morning walks. They are meeting through May at 9:30am at Rector Place (a change due to flood-protection construction going on along the riverfront). The highlight was a mourning dove nest in an apple tree by Rector Place.
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| Mourning dove on nest |
There was also interesting behavior by a house sparrow, which was diligently stripping bark off a tree branch and carrying it off, presumably to build its own nest. For more info contact marieke.bender@bpca.ny.gov
4. Then at 8am on Wednesday April 29, Gabriel Willow led the first Battery Park bird walk of the season. The now-resident wild turkey called Astoria is by far the largest bird in the park, though I thought she looked a bit sad.
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| Astoria the wild turkey |
There was a feisty mockingbird on the fence near her that seemed to be watching over her, though maybe just watching for bugs she scared up when she moved.
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| Northern Mockingbird |
(There are volunteers who come on a regular schedule to look out for Astoria and keep her safe.)
I got a photo of one warbler, a Yellow-rumped Warbler. Gabriel also spotted a Baltimore Oriole and heard a Yellow Warbler. gabrielwillow.com
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| Yellow-rumped Warbler |
Paula Recart, the new President of The Battery Conservancy, is talking about increasing the number of bird walks during the spring and fall migration seasons, which would be great. If that sounds like a good idea to you, or you would like to be part of a ‘bird council’ planning other bird-related activities at The Battery, you can let her know at paula.recart@thebattery.org
