Natural Selection

The Anthem Of The Seas docked at Cape Liberty. The picture above was taken from our cabin after docking. As the light improved there were a few Ring-billed and American Herring Gulls and Double-Crested Cormorants, and a very distant group of 400 birds that zoomed photographs showed to be Brants (aka Brent Geese).

Following the transfer to our hotel we spent four days mixing sightseeing with birding in Central Park. The birdlife of Central Park is of course well known, so what follows are a few personal observations and pictures to give a flavour of our experience.

This was an add-on to a repositioning cruise, so we had no choice over the dates. Late October and early November is getting past the best time for fall migration. As in Nova Scotia last weekend we did see some birds that were lingering. Jane excelled herself by picking out both Blue-headed Vireo and American Redstart (pictured).

The resident bird species were also absorbing with good numbers of Hermit Thrushes, White-throated Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos among others. Several species of woodpecker were also very enjoyable.

There was a marked dip in the weather on Tuesday, and whether it was coincidental or not there was a marked influx of ducks onto the park reservoir. There had been a couple of Hooded Mergansers and plenty of Ruddy Ducks. Buffleheads also arrived for the winter and showed rather better than they had in Canada.

There were other distractions as well. These included raptors, Cedar Waxwings and the like. We sort of tuned into the local grapevine via eBird, and an Eastern Bluebird was clearly the bird to see in the park. We didn’t set out to twitch it, but in a traverse of the entire park from north to south we happened on it and some of its admirers.

All told the birding in the park was really enjoyable, it’s a superb place to be as the leaves are falling from the trees. Having an attitude that we weren’t going to see everything was helpful, and every day we added something to the list and the experience. It was a few days perceptibly on the cusp of two seasons, and the more special for that.