News for birding fanatics! The owls are making themselves known again at the NYBG, or so recent sightings would suggest. Friend of the Garden Pat Gonzalez informs me that a birdwatching group caught a glimpse of our Great Horned Owls mating (that’s a good sign) in the Forest near the hemlocks, meaning that we may have another small parliament of owls (I maintain that collective nouns are the most fun you can have in language arts) terrorizing our chipmunk population in the near future.
Despite often being year-round residents at the NYBG, we generally see neither hide nor feather of these airborne hunters due to their nocturnal habit–at least up until breeding season when diurnal hunting becomes more common. Having the leaves off the trees at this time of year also makes spotting these raptors more of a cinch. But when a storm toppled the birds’ favorite nesting tree, it made locating them something of a challenge. Seeing the owls going into 2012 has proven a hit-or-miss endeavor for our local birders.
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 at the Leon Levy Visitor Center.
Long-eared Owl (Asio otus)
Winter brings many different things to New York City, but for a birder, the one special gift winter delivers is the owl. With the leaves off the trees, these cryptic, wise, and almost magical birds become easier to locate and observe. The New York Botanical Garden hosted a number of species this past year, including the Barred, two Saw-whet, two Long-eared and two Great Horned Owls. As a matter of fact, there were more owls in the Garden than in Pelham Bay Park, which has always been considered the area’s owl hub.
Birders on the NYBG’s Saturday morning bird walks are now hopeful these mystical creatures will return and grace us with their alluring presence.
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?
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. The last one for the season will be June 27.
Three fuzzy heads can be seen bobbing up and down in the red-tailed hawk nest. Just like Central Park’s Pale Male and Lola, our red-tails have made a neat little “cliffside” home at the top of a structure—in this case the Library building. It is interesting to watch mom and pop fly in with food to feed the babies. The hawks’ diet consists mainly of small mammals (such as squirrels and chipmunks) and birds, keeping the balance of nature in check. The female red-tail seems to find mockingbirds a special treat and has resorted to robbing mockingbird nests. Recently, we saw the red-tail perched atop the Watson Building with a baby mockingbird in her talons and mother mocker desperately trying to get mother hawk to free her prey. The mocker aggressively attacked the hawk, but in the end the hawk had a meal for her babies and the mocker went home to an empty nest. It is the circle of life.
While searching for warblers in the Forest we were treated to a very rare sight at this time of year: Our well-hidden female great horned owl flew from her perch followed by her fledgling. We were able to follow the mature owl to a new perch but lost the young owl in the leaves. As we watched the mom settle in, she kept looking around for her baby. Suddenly she looked forward and began to hoot. Then she turned her head right and hooted and then left and hooted. I guess she heard the young owl reply, because she closed her eyes and seemingly went to sleep.
As the warbler numbers begin to dwindle, the birds having moved on to northern climes, we are grateful for another wonderful migration. Most of us were treated to the sightings of warblers such as black-throated blue, black-throated green, northern parula, Tennessee, chestnut-sided, bay-breasted, American redstart, common yellowthroat, yellow, prothonotary, and ovenbird. We also had warbling, red-eyed, and blue-headed vireos and a long list of other spectacular birds: Baltimore oriole, scarlet tanager, rose-breasted grosbeak, wood thrush, veery, hermit thrush, gray catbird, brown creeper, house wren, rough-winged swallow, bank swallow, tree swallow, chimney swift, eastern kingbird, great blue heron, great egret, night-heron, green heron (in full breeding plumage, see above photo, courtesy Debbie Becker), cormorant, wood duck (adults with 11 babies), mallard (adults with 12 babies) indigo bunting, cedar waxwing, savannah sparrow, ruby-throated hummingbird, eastern towhee, and northern flicker.
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…
Birders Treated to Uncommon Sightings and Start of Mating Season
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.
The other day I watched two male house sparrows competing for the attention of a female bird who seemed totally disinterested in their mating dance. With tail feathers extended they jumped, hopped, and vied for her attention. She seemed distracted and eventually flew away leaving the two male birds confused and looking for another female to shower with attention.
February marks the beginning of spring for many birds. It is the start of their mating season. Even though the temperature is hovering around 30 degrees and remnants of snow are on the ground, for birds love is in the air. Perhaps Valentine’s Day was created with birds in mind. What reasonable human really thinks about love during the coldest month of the year? Roses wilt, balloons deflate, and chocolate gets hard in the February frost. But for birds, their warm little bodies and courtship rituals begin to stir as tiny buds form on early blooming trees.
Bird watching has long been regarded as an act of love. For those of us who bundle up in the winter and drudge along snow-laden pathways in the Garden, it is a yearning of the heart that keeps us warm and drives us on. Our quest to see the owls, hear the mourning doves cry, watch the red-tailed hawks soar above, and feed the chickadees from our palms are all acts of unselfish and undying love. What else would motivate us to wake up early on a Saturday morning, don layers of clothes, gloves, boots, hand warmers, hats, and scarfs to brave the cold winds of February and March to go birding.
This year especially, the birding lovebug has bitten many. Because of the global changes and an unusually cold winter, many birds that normally are residents of Canada and the northeastern United States have been driven south by snow and an inability to find food. Much to the delight of birders in New York City and Long Island, white-winged crossbills, snow buntings, lapland longspur, pine siskins, snowy owls, snow geese, long-eared owls, and northern saw-whet owls, and bald eagles have been visiting our area. Earlier this month in the Garden 15 white-winged crossbills delighted a large group of birders with their chatter and acrobatic behavior as they hung from pine cones searching for food. We ran after them as they flew from tree to tree, careful not to slip on the ice but eager to see a sure life-bird for everyone on the bird tour.
Love is a universal feeling, and perhaps birders feel love a bit deeper than most. It is a love for the hobby of birding that drives us to preserve the natural habitats of our feathered friends. We may protest in the form of letters or e-mails about any habitat that is going to be torn down for a shopping center or housing development. Bird lovers will go that extra mile to keep secret an owl roost or to protect the location of a rare bird. I have witnessed passionate debates over the identification of an unrecognizable avian visitor.
Perhaps no other hobby elicits participation from a such a varied number of people. On my bird walks I have met students, politicians, lawyers, doctors, designers, secretaries, teachers, retirees, world travelers, consultants, photographers, writers, and more. The one common thread is the love of birding. And in this month of February with cupid looming about and the beginning of the spring mating season at hand, I hope to meet more people in love with the act of birding on my Saturday bird walks.
News for birding fanatics! The owls are making themselves known again at the NYBG, or so recent sightings would suggest. Friend of the Garden Pat Gonzalez informs me that a birdwatching group caught a glimpse of our Great Horned Owls mating (that’s a good sign) in the Forest near the hemlocks, meaning that we may have another small parliament of owls (I maintain that collective nouns are the most fun you can have in language arts) terrorizing our chipmunk population in the near future.
