Debbie Becker’s ever-popular Bird Walks return this Saturday with a hunt for those tiny gems of the garden; hummingbirds! The walks begin at 11 a.m., leaving from the Reflecting Pool in front of the Visitor Center. A limited number of binoculars are available for loan at the Visitor Center Information Booth, so if you have a pair, bring them along, and be sure to wear sturdy shoes.
The diverse habitats of the Botanical Garden offer bird-watchers a chance to see dozens of species of birds throughout the year. The Garden’s magnificent 250-acres of outdoor gardens and collections, open meadows, native forest, and waterbodies such as the Bronx River and Twin Lakes entice birds migrating through the area in spring and fall and those that stay to nest in summer or to spend the winter.
We talked to some visitors and staff about their favorite birds and why they love birding at the Garden.
Upcoming Bird Walk themes include:
– In Pursuit of Hummingbirds September 10
– Great Hawk Migration September 24
– In Search of the Great Horned Owls November 19
– Annual Bird Count December 10
– Great Backyard Bird Count February 18
Tell us (by leaving a comment): What is your favorite bird? Have you had a great birding experience at the Garden?
That said, just like any new family, the owls need a little peace and quiet. I received this email today from Jessica Arcate-Schuler, Manager of the Forest where the owls are nesting:
Please advise all visitors to stay on Azalea Way while viewing the Great Horned Owls nesting at the edge of the Forest. First and foremost, this is to prevent any disturbance to the owls and owlets. Secondly, to help steward the Forest by not trampling newly planted restoration plants, salamanders, and causing soil compaction. Notify visitors that the nest and male owl, when he is on his normal perch, are both visible from Azalea Way and can be seen with binoculars.
With the excitement of the owlets hatching, more and more people seem to be traveling to view our owls (I met a birder from Boston, this week!). For the health and well-being of the owls and the Forest, we appreciate your help.
So, please come to the Garden to see the owls! Please bring binoculars, wear sturdy shoes, and bring your camera. But, please give a hoot, and do not disturb the owls. We’re working on something a little special that should hopefully let people who aren’t able to come visit get in on the owl excitement, so watch this space. Happy weekend everyone!
Owls, Hawks, Sparrows, Even Wild Turkeys, Seen on Free Weekly Walks
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. Photos by Debbie Becker.
Fall arrives with a hint of winter and a longing for summer. The leaves fall and the trees begin to go dormant. For me and other birders, fall signifies transition with the migration of birds. The herons, egrets, and catbirds all leave for warmer climates. Their time in New York City has come to an end, and they flee before winter arrives. But with the fall, too, comes the arrival to New York of the winter birds: juncos, white-throated sparrows, chickadees, titmice, ducks, and owls. Some birders think that winter birding is the best, and it begins in the fall.
Autumn is sparrow season, and this fall has proven to be a spectacular one at that. So far at NYBG we have spotted field, tree, clay-colored, song, white-crowned, swamp, savannah, chipping, and white-throated (pictured above) sparrows. Along with the flocks of sparrows are yellow-rumped warblers and an assortment of other migrating birds: common yellowthroats, blackpolls, American redstarts, ovenbirds (one pictured at left), black-and-white warblers, black-throated green warblers, black-throated blue warblers, grosbeaks, tanagers, and a variety of vireos and flycatchers.
We have also spotted overhead at Daffodil Hill migrating turkey vultures, osprey, Cooper’s hawks, sharp-shinned hawks, a kestrel, a rough-winged hawk, and a wonderful merlin that soared in the sunlight, illuminating the copper and red in its wings.
The great horned owls that now inhabit the Forest at NYBG are second generation, as the longtime resident male and female have since died. A junior male (pictured), a possible offspring of the pair, and a new mate have staked their territory. It is amazing to see the junior male roosting in the same spot where the former owls did. He carries on the tradition of hooting in the same Forest area; we look forward to seeing their owlets.
Yellow-bellied sapsuckers, a name that always elicits a laugh, are plentiful at the Garden as are other woodpeckers: hairy, downy, and a persistent red-bellied that can be observed by Twin Lakes. It flies back and forth, grabbing acorns from an oak and depositing them in an open knot in a tree, storing them for winter.
Chickadees and titmice have arrived in record numbers. Recently we watched a brown thrasher by the crabapples wandering up the road as a hermit thrush and eastern phoebe looked on. Cedar waxwings and robins that will spend the winter at the Garden were eating berries from a polycarpa tree. Grackles, which migrate in the thousands, have begun lighting on nearby lawns.
Before you start thinking about Thanksgiving, come see the two wild turkeys that are regularly seen behind Shop in the Garden. They peck and scrape the gravel and grass looking for morsels to feed on.
I look forward to cool days with misty air—and birds that delight us. Come join us on a walk.
It’s Been a Hoot for Debbie Becker, Who Launches New Season on Saturday
Carol Capobianco is Editorial Content Manager at The New York Botanical Garden, and Nick Leshi is Associate Director of Public Relations and Electronic Media.
Every Saturday at 11 a.m. throughout most of the year, a few dozen people gather at the Reflecting Pool in the Leon Levy Visitor Center with binoculars and high hopes. They’ve come to go on a walk in search of the birds that live at the Botanical Garden either year-round or temporarily during migration periods.
The tour leader, Debbie Becker, who this season marks her 25th year conducting bird walks at the Garden, knows all the nooks and crannies, and all the favorite spots of many of the nearly 200 species that have been recorded in the Garden over the years. In other words, if someone wants to see a particular bird—say, the resident great horned owls or the aberrant white-winged crossbills—Debbie can deliver.
“The habitat dictates what kind of bird you’re going to see,” explains Debbie. “And in the Garden’s 250 acres of diversified habitat, you can see a lot of birds. You can walk from a forest, to a meadow, river, waterfall, ornamental garden, and native plant garden in just a couple of hours.”
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.
Photo of owls: Debbie Becker
Late last month, in frigid weather conditions, 12 loyal birders met me under the clock at 11 a.m. for the weekly bird walk around the Garden. Our main objective was to see the nesting great horned owls. We headed over to the snag at the Forest’s edge where the owls successfully nested last year, and there in a cavity we saw our resident female owl, all fluffed up sitting, presumably, on eggs—only the top half of her body was visible.
We then searched for the male owl, who usually is nearby, guarding the nest and his mate. Our binoculars scanned the bare branches of surrounding trees until we spotted him wedged between the trunk and a branch of a tree. Three blue jays were harassing him—screeching at the top of their lungs. When one jay got too close, the owl flew to a branch closer to us.
As we stood there freezing and admiring his majestic beauty a red-tailed hawk flew in and landed about 20 feet away from the owl. This wasn’t any red-tailed hawk—it was the female that nested on the Library building last spring. She and her mate (he later died from eating a poisoned rat) had three offspring; she and her brood often can be seen flying around the Garden searching for prey. We had seen the female many times before, silently perched waiting for some unsuspecting squirrel or rabbit to happen by.
Owls on Nest Once Again, Waterfowl Add Color to Gray Days
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.
Photos: Debbie Becker
Winter holds its best birding in two areas: owls and ducks. Right now the great horned owls at NYBG are sitting on their nest ready to bring forth a new brood of owlets to delight and amaze us. Anticipated arrival time is the end of February. In the meantime, wander down to the Bronx River and observe the wonderful world of waterfowl on the river. Wood ducks, mallards, one farm duck, and several hooded mergansers have been present on the Bronx River. Ducks are fun to watch, and their brightly-hued feathers add color to gray winter days.
The mergansers can be seen diving under the water searching for small fish and insects. The male’s white crest becomes erect when danger is near or when trying to attract a female during mating season. The females sport a funky spiked hairdo, but their crests are burgundy and subtle. The males often bob their heads in territorial display and are silent most the time.
Two Species Normally Found in Spring Spotted on Bird Count
Carol Capobianco is Editorial Content Manager at The New York Botanical Garden.
Local birder Rob Jett reports on his Web site The City Birder that two pine warblers and four Baltimore Orioles—bird species that at this time of year are usually much farther south (as in Florida and south of the border)—were recorded on December 27 at the Botanical Garden during the National Audubon Society’s annual Christmas Bird Count.
The Garden falls within the Bronx-Westchester count area, which this year marked its 86th season. (Roger Tory Peterson was one of the more famous participants.) This is the seventh time in the past 11 years that orioles (see photo at right, by Steve Nanz) were found in the count area, but four is a record high.
Debbie Becker, who leads the Garden’s weekly bird walks, has seen pine warblers (photo at left, by Steve Nanz) here since early December. And, she says that seeing orioles in December—often near the crabapple trees or the Rock Garden—has become more common. She has conducted her own “unofficial” bird count at the Garden in December for about 20 years. She thinks the sightings of birds such as orioles and warblers in winter may be the result of climate change, and some birds that usually migrate instead find a secure home with plenty of sustenance at the Garden.
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.
It’s that time of year again, when all the deciduous leaves have fallen and the bare tree limbs leave exposed the birds of the Forest. As you walk the Forest path you are reminded of the Native Americans who used the Forest as hunting grounds—along the trail by the Bronx River you will even pass the Bear Den, a cave believed to have been used by Native Americans while hunting.
One of the most elusive figures in the NYBG Forest is the great horned owl, a large bird with tuft-like ears, cat-like eyes, and sharp claws. It is a monster of a bird, and it is the most sought-after species on our weekly walk.
Native Americans believed their deceased loved ones’ souls passed into the bodies of great horned owls. The owl was sacred to them and never hunted. Today we still hold the owl in reverence. It is a majestic, elusive creature that conceals itself in conifers during the day and hunts at night.
We’ll likely see this bird during our annual “unofficial” Christmas Bird Count tomorrow, in which we document the numbers of species and individual birds we see from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. (The official Christmas Bird Count of the National Audubon Society, the 86th Bronx-Westchester Count, which includes the Botanical Garden, is on Sunday, December 27. Audubon conducts other counts over a three-week period all over North America and beyond.)
Cricket Crawl at the Garden Confirms Presence of These—and More
Jessica Arcate is Manager of the Forest.
Robert Naczi, Ph.D., is Curator of North American Botany.
On the evening of Saturday, September 12, a fearless group of five naturalists outfitted with headlamps and recording equipment, ventured throughout the Botanical Garden to listen for seven species of crickets and katydids for the NYC Cricket Crawl.
Actually, we wondered why all the fuss about katydids? We knew we had them here at The New York Botanical Garden. As part of the efforts to document the natural history of NYBG, Edgardo Rivera and Robert Naczi had been studying insects at NYBG since mid-July. Because many insects find ultraviolet light (“black light”) irresistible, nocturnal collecting with a black light can be a very productive way of surveying local insect diversity. Edgardo and Rob had heard Common True Katydids at NYBG on several occasions, but came to realize their significance after reading announcements about the Cricket Crawl.
And so a team was assembled (see photo by Tom Andres) to confirm the identities of these insects for the Cricket Crawl: Edgardo Rivera (Senior Curatorial Assistant), Tom Andres (Herbarium volunteer), Kendrick Simmons (independent videographer), Jim Schuler (volunteer), and Jessica Arcate (Manager of the Forest). The evening began in the Perennial Garden and Ladies’ Border, and then headed to the knolls of the Arthur and Janet Ross Conifer Arboretum. At these sites four species were heard: Jumping Bush Cricket, Field Cricket, Greater Anglewing, and Common True Katydid. At the Mitsubishi Wetlands the fifth and last species of the night was added to the list, the Oblong-winged Katydid. Next, the team trekked into the center of the Forest. To our surprise one of the great horned owls from the Garden’s resident family was calling. The owl called several times from different trees, and it was incredible to hear. (To hear the sound of a great horned owl, click here.)
Expect Warblers, Wood Ducks, More on this Weekend’s Bird Walks
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. This weekend, she’ll also lead a walk on Sunday, same time and place.
Spring has sprung at NYBG!
The phoebe, spring’s harbinger, has been singing its wonderful namesake song throughout the forest. Wood thrush are chiming in along with white-throated sparrows, tufted titmice, and cardinals.
While some birds are singing to lure a mate, some of our larger predators are already proud parents. Our red-tailed hawks appear to have one baby in their nest, built on a cliff-like shelf of the Library building. Mom and pop can be seen flying in and out with tasty morsels to feed the nestling.
Our baby great horned owls fledged their nest in the Forest. Last Saturday, only one baby was left in the nest (see photo) with Dad watching over him like a hawk (or should I say owl). The other owlet was somewhere in the Forest with Mom, learning how to fly and watching her hunt. Earlier this week, the second baby also fledged and now birders are treated to a spectacular show of watching them flap their brand-new wings and hop from branch to branch.
Warblers are beginning to invade the Garden. Some birders I know save all their vacation days for the last week of April and first week of May to look for these gems. Warblers are small, colorful birds that migrate from as far south as South America to the far northern reaches of the United States and southern Canada. Escaping predators and feeding on newly hatched insects, they travel up the eastern coast in the tens of thousands every April and May to their breeding grounds. This is the only chance each year to see these long-distance travelers in their brilliant breeding plumage, and birding NYBG gives you every opportunity to observe them. Last Saturday’s walk yielded a palm warbler, pine warbler, and yellow-rumped warbler.
To learn more about the birds at the Botanical Garden…
