Last Week of Winter

Female (front) and male (rear) northern shoveler ducks, Anas clypeata. They get their common name from the over sized shovel-shaped bills. Click to enlarge. 

Spring arrives this week. Some of the ducks that spend winter in the coastal waters near New York will soon fly off to their summer breeding grounds. The northern shoveler duck is one of my favorites. I photographed these at the Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in southern New Jersey.

Duck Jokes:

What do you call a duck with a drug problem? -- Quackhead! 

What happens when a duck flies upside down? -- It quacks up!

When do ducks wake up? -- At the quack of dawn!

A man in a theatre notices a duck sitting next to him. He says, "Hey -- what's a duck doing at the movies? The duck replies, "I thought the book was really good." 

Ring-billed Gull Ready for Spring

This ring-billed gull, Larus delawarensis, is in breeding plumage; the bird's head and breast are snowy white. I took the picture on the East River in Brooklyn last week. Can spring be far behind?

This is an adult ring-bill in non-breeding plumage, taken a few months ago in the same place.  Its head and neck are faintly streaked with grayish brown. 

Check out the red eye ring and red at the corner of the mouth on the breeding adult. Click to enlarge. 

Tree Sparrow

Don't be fooled by the broadleaf evergreen behind the fence. It was 20 degrees F. outside when I took this picture. The bird is an American tree sparrow, Spizella arborea. 

One of the first things I did when the polar vortex hit New York City was to stock up on birdseed. I'm not alone in that; sales of food for wild birds spike during cold weather. I've had a wire holder for a suet block for a long time, but haven't used it much. It was so cold that I decided to buy a suet and seed cake to give the birds some high-calorie food to help them keep warm. I found a single suet cake online for about five dollars. Then I found some on wag.com for $14.99 a dozen. So now I have a case of peanut-crunch suet cakes.

The very first day I put one out, I was visited by this American tree sparrow. I had never seen one on my porch before! The bird is the size of a house sparrow but has a rusty cap and a rusty line through its eye on an otherwise gray head. It has a smudged spot on its breast. The beak is black on top and yellow below. Despite the common name given to it by European settlers who were reminded of another bird, this one usually forages on the ground. It also nests on or near the ground in the far north, near the tree line.

That was $14.99 well spent!

Click to enlarge. 

Red-necked Grebe

A red-necked grebe, Podiceps grisegena, swimming in the East River. 

Here is a bird New Yorkers don't see every day -- a red-necked grebe. It is uncommon enough around New York City to be popping up on rare bird sighting lists. I saw this one in the East River today, between Piers 4 and 5, in Brooklyn Bridge Park. It was diving, disappearing under water for long counts, hunting for food. Red-necked grebes typically eat fish, crustaceans, aquatic insects, and an occasional mollusk or amphibian.

The bird is drably colored now, but its plumage will brighten for the breeding season into a distinctive red neck (where it is now reddish brown), white face, and black cap. Red-necked grebes breed on inland lakes, mainly in Canada and Alaska, and winter along both coasts of North America. They make unique floating nests from mats of plant material; a depression in the middle holds the clutch of 1-9 blue eggs.

Click to enlarge. 

Winter Robin

This American robin, Turdus migratorius, is spending the winter in my Brooklyn garden.  It is normal for some robins to not migrate south for winter. They switch from a diet of summer worms to dry fruit and berries. I give this one raisins, grapes, and apple slices. To read more about winter robins, click here for a previous detailed blog.    

       "From December to March, 

there are for many of 
us three gardens: 


the garden outdoors, 


the garden of pots and bowls in the house, 


and the garden of the mind's eye.
" 

-- Katherine S. White

"The snow doesn't give a soft white damn whom it touches." 

-- e.e. cummings

Winter Continues

It is still cold in New York City! This mourning dove (Zenaida macroura) was sitting on my porch today with its feathers puffed up, hanging out and keeping warm. Click to enlarge.

Red-breasted Merganser Dives

A male red-breasted merganser, Mergus serrator.

February is a good month to look for red-breasted merganser ducks in New York City's East River. Today I saw the one in these two photos. I wrote about another on a February Sunday in 2011. Click here to read the previous blog.

The red-breasted merganser is a diving duck; it mainly eats fish, which it dives under water to catch.  Below is a picture of this duck's energetic dive, just before he disappeared.

Click to enlarge.