Happy Easter!

“April hath put a spirit of youth in everything.”

Sonnet 98, William Shakespeare

Happy Easter

Time for some new yellow goslings.

And pink peach blossoms. Click to enlarge.

Time for more rabbits.

And a bunch of fuzzy ducklings. Easter time.

Despite everything, spring continues to unfold. And Easter Sunday has arrived on schedule. Here's an apt quote from Ending Easter (Amazing Adventures of Harry Moon), by         Mark Andrew Poe: 

 “Even without church walls, or doors or sconces, Easter had come. Even without altars or crosses, Easter had come” 

Happy Father's Day!

Goose Reflections

I was watching a Canada goose family (Branta canadensis) and was impressed by how often they did exactly the same things at the same time and struck identical poses, especially the goslings. Congruent like the two above. 

Or symmetrical like these two. Click to enlarge. 

Apparently they get it from their parents! 

And here's a demonstration of the famous goose step. 

Dabbling for Dinner

The photo seems to be crying out for a funny caption. Something about exercise or synchronized swimming, right? Click to enlarge. 

These Canada geese are tipped over and reaching down with their long necks to gather food plants from the bottom of the shallow pond. The one that's right side up in the back is a designated sentinel; that's a goose thing -- they take turns watching for danger. Every time you look at a flock of geese you will see that some of them, the guards, are watching you right back and ready to honk an alarm.

Here is a haiku from 1822 by the Japanese poet Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue, about that very thing.

how prudent! 

the geese post guards

awake, asleep 

Bush Terminal Park

Tired of being kept indoors by the cold, I ventured out yesterday to look at this new Brooklyn park. It was pretty darned cold, about 25 F, and I didn't stay long. Click here for information about and directions to the park. Click here for a great place to have lunch while you are there. 

The park is surrounded by industrial waterfront buildings from an earlier age.  Click to enlarge the photos. 

In the park, a flock of cold-looking ring-billed gulls, Larus delawarensis, were standing on the ice. 

More cold-looking gulls hunkered down on the rocks. 

The rocks by the shore were icy. 

A few Canada geese, Branta canadensis, were walking through the dry grass. 

A pair of American wigeons (Anas penelope) swam by. The male is  on the left and the female on the right. 

A few rafts of bufflehead ducks (Bucephala albeola) swam offshore. 

One of the buffleheads caught an arthropod snack! 

Closer! 

Born in the summer of 2010

It's 30 degrees and windy in New York City today. As I scattered seeds on my Brooklyn porch for the birds this morning I couldn't help thinking about the coming winter and how it will impact the birds. Some of them, like the northern cardinals and the pigeons, will stay here through the winter; they are called residents. Others, like robins and blue jays, have mixed feelings about leaving; some of them migrate but some don't. Still other birds, like winter wrens, migrate to here to spend the winter from even colder places further north. Regardless of the migration plan, winter causes upheaval; the birds face either a long cold season or a long round trip.

The baby birds pictured below were all born this summer in New York City despite noise, pollution, and about eight million people. Despite all that and snow, ice, and freezing temperatures, or a trip to Florida or Mexico, they will be here next spring to start families of their own.

A family of Canada geese, Branta canadensis, in the East River.

This baby rock pigeon, Columba livia, was born
on a Manhattan building ledge. 

Baby American robins, Turdus americana, look like
adults with spots.This one was born in a tree behind
the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

These Mallard ducklings, Ana platyrhynchus, were
born by The Pond in Central Park, across the street
from the Plaza Hotel. 

This baby blue jay, Cyanocitta cristata, was born
on Manhattan'supper west side in Central Park near
the Shakespeare Garden. 

This baby northern cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis,
was born in my condo garden in Brooklyn.