Between appointments in Manhattan today I took a walk through The Ramble and around the Turtle Pond in the late morning. My FOY bird today was a Winter Wren in the Shakespeare Garden. I saw it "naked eye" practically at my feet, skulking around in the leaf litter and watched it for a very long time.As I was checking it out in Peterson I was reminded that while I think the paintings in the Sibley Guide are more reliable and useful, the phrasing in Peterson ("confusing fall warblers" or "chiefly dead and dying fish," describing the Bald Eagle's diet) is much more memorable; Peterson was also a very good writer. His description of the Winter Wren as "mouselike, it stays near the ground," is apt and perfectly captured the behavior of the little bird as it poked around in the garden.
Another happy sighting was a beautiful drake Wood Duck mixed in with a flock of Mallards on the lake. I was hoping to make it up to the reservoir but ran out of time.
22 species for the day:
Canada Goose 6
Wood Duck 1 Lake
Mallard 60
Rock Pigeon 25
Mourning Dove 1 Shakespeare Garden
Red-bellied Woodpecker 3
Downy Woodpecker 1
Eastern Phoebe 1
Blue Jay 3
Tufted Titmouse 2
Winter Wren 1 Shakespeare Garden
Golden-crowned Kinglet 1 Near Poland Statue
Hermit Thrush 5
American Robin 20
European Starling 6
Yellow-rumped Warbler 2
Eastern Towhee 1
Song Sparrow 5
White-throated Sparrow 100
Dark-eyed Junco 1
Northern Cardinal 2
House Sparrow 50
Hi Larry: Just wanted to pipe in that I haven't seen a Winter Wren yet this year myself and usually they're no biggie. Odd.
ReplyDeleteFOY is first of year? Good on you for acknowledging Peterson's writing.
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