We took a birding walk through Green-wood Cemetery today.
As soon as we saw the Monk Parakeets starting their nest at the entrance and grazing on the lawn, the day was a success.
With their incessant squawking and frenzied flying they're just comical. They're natural rebels, squatting in the steeple of the cemetery, or better yet, in the transformers of a Con Ed power station across the street. They set up these huge parakeet condos--they're the only parakeet or parrot to live communally. I saw one today flying toward its nest site with a stick that was twice as long as it was.
I don't go looking for the famous dead while I'm there, but it is interesting to stumble upon them. Today we found:
I particularly like the plaque in front. Reminds me of my days in the printing biz.
Seemed like a good family man.
Once we saw a car with U.S. Senate plates pull up before the grave site and a young guy who must have been some politician's aide, jumped out of the car, snapped a picture of the tombstone and drove away.
We also came upon our all time favorite tombstone. If you're going to be dead, you may as well have a sense of humor about it.
Besides the parakeets the highlights for the day were a Brown Creeper and our first Eastern Phoebes of the year. If the phoebes are back, it must be spring. Greenwood Cemetery
Observation date: 3/21/10Number of species: 24
Double-crested Cormorant 1 flyover
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Rock Pigeon 15
Mourning Dove 1
Monk Parakeet 25
Red-bellied Woodpecker 2
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1 Battle Hill
Downy Woodpecker 1
Eastern Phoebe 3
American Crow 2
Black-capped Chickadee 4
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1
Brown Creeper 1 Sylvan Avenue
American Robin 75
Northern Mockingbird 4
European Starling 60
Yellow-rumped Warbler 1
Song Sparrow 3
White-throated Sparrow 1
Dark-eyed Junco 4
Northern Cardinal 7
Red-winged Blackbird 1
Common Grackle 10
House Sparrow 10
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