Wildlife

Plan Your Weekend: Free Bird-watching Walk

Posted in Programs and Events, Wildlife on October 3 2008, by Plant Talk

Fall Brings an Array of Migrants

Debbie Becker leads a free bird walk at the Garden every Saturday from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., beginning at the Reflecting Pool in the Leon Levy Visitor Center.

Autumn is that miraculous time of year when the leaves on the trees turn glorious colors. It is also time for the great fall migration. From August through November, thousands of birds leave their northern breeding grounds and return to their southern homes. As they pass through NYBG they stop and eat the luscious crab apples, berries, and nuts emerging from trees, bushes, and shrubs. It is a unique time of year to see tanagers, orioles, grosbeaks, and warblers in different stages of maturity as they move through the area.

Also migrating are raptors. Red-tailed hawks, red-shouldered hawks, kestrels, Cooper’s hawks, and sharp-shinned hawks are just some of the accipiters and buteos that glide on the thermals over Daffodil Hill. More than 5,000 broad-winged hawks have been spotted in one afternoon at NYBG. Bald eagles and golden eagles fly lazily over the Bronx River searching for a meal. Osprey circle above as they, too, fish the Bronx River.

On Twin Lakes, the wood ducks and mallards emerge from their state of eclipse and reclaim the lakes in full-colored feathers again. Joining them are autumn migrants: gadwalls, green-winged and blue-winged teals, northern shovelers, hooded and common mergansers, buffleheads grebes, coots, and many surprise visitors.

During October, the Garden plays host to a wide variety of sparrows: tree, field, savannah, song, swamp, fox, chipping, white-crowned, white-throated, and more. November brings the grackles and the blackbirds migrating in the thousands. Large flocks will sweep over NYBG and literally turn the trees black when they perch, all the while cackling loudly.

As autumn comes to an end during the middle of December, our great-horned owls begin to stir. Their breeding season will be just beginning as they emerge from the forest ready to entertain us with mating calls and rituals.

Autumn at NYBG is an exciting season. Come join us on a fall bird walk. You never know what or “hooo” you will see.

NYBG In the News — Beavers and Lizards and Hawks, Oh My!

Posted in NYBG in the News, Wildlife on August 19 2008, by Plant Talk

Nick Leshi is Associate Director of Public Relations and Electronic Media.

In the September 2008 issue of Outside, a health, fitness, and travel magazine, Eric Hansen wrote a two-and-a-half page feature chronicling his quest to find the Bronx’s elusive José the Beaver. Named as a tribute to Congressman José Serrano, the beaver has garnered an urban legend mystique with sightings along the Bronx River. The writer visited The New York Botanical Garden while researching his story and dubbed our institution “a biologically diverse oasis.”

Reading this article made me think of all the other amazing wildlife one can see here on a given day. Yes, the Botanical Garden prides itself as a museum of plants with extensive flora in its 50 gardens and plant collections. But visitors might be surprised at the diversity of fauna they could also stumble upon during a visit here. Our neighbor across Fordham Road may have lions and tigers and bears, but a stroll through NYBG reveals an unexpected variety of life from the animal kingdom.

Birds are abundant, from majestic hawks circling overhead to families of ducks ambling along a path. On the Garden’s popular guided Bird Walks, held Saturday mornings September through June, people seek out robins, blue jays, cardinals, sparrows, and even owls. I’ve been amazed to see wild turkeys, blue herons, plump pheasants, and even what looked like an ibis swooping to grab a koi from one of the pools in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory Courtyards.

If you look closely enough, birds aren’t the only wildlife you’ll see. Chipmunks scurry in the Forest. Frogs belch their songs in the ponds of the Rock Garden, while Italian wall lizards dash across nearby stones. From rabbits and turtles to muskrats and squirrels, it’s incredible to realize how many species of life call our 250 acres “home.”

View our Flickr set of some of our animal friends and more!