Highbridge Park

I decided to take another look at Highbridge this Fall. Although it still has some serious squatter issues, it also holds a great abundance of migratory birds. Here's the highlights and some surprises.
A gorgeous Palm Warbler.

Also in abundance were yellow rumps,


including this musically inclined individual!

Kinglets and sparrows of all types were in abundance.



I was also surprised to see a blue headed vireo feeding on the ground!

Last but not least were more that a dozen phoebes sprinkled throughout the Park.

Oh, I almost forgot...this mockingbird was thrashing a small snake!

Full Bloom

It finally feels as if the cold, grey shroud of winter has lifted. Although some winter birds still remain, the first wave of spring migrants is in full swing. The hawks and peregrines are all well into brooding, and even the kestrels have begun mating and will soon brood too. This is a sample of some of the action!
Norman's reign of terror over Morningside continues!


He seems fond of starlings!



Finally caught my resident kestrels copulating on top of Wadleigh!

While downtown on Water St., I discovered another nesting kestrel pair while checking on the 55 Water peregrines. The male was nest raiding above the lunch time crowd!




And now a sampling of those migrants.
Palm Warbler

Phoebe

Wood thrush

White throated sparrow

Mocker

Titmouse

Bluejays chasing each other through the trees.

Brown Creeper

Golden Crowned Kinglet

Chipping sparrow

Doves, chippers and juncos

Pigeon carcass

Spring Symphony

The chorus of birds throughout the City's Parks resounds with the song of renewal. Flowers are blooming, songbirds are nesting and the raptors are sitting on their precious eggs. The perfect timing of all this implies a hidden conductor, silently signaling each section, in a master concert! With its characteristic pauses and crescendos, the music spans the entire range from the tiniest wing beats of the bumble bees, to the massive conglomeration of a huge flock of starlings roosting at dusk. Here's a pictoral equivalent of this masterpiece.







The new male, hunting hard over Morningside for his potential brood!

The resident male kestrel, doing the same!


Isolde, taking a break from nest sitting, atop St. Luke's

Also saw this male kestrel hunting house finches above Barnard campus.

At the nest on CCNY, still cant see if the female is brooding, but the male is following the same pattern as their Cathedral neighbors. Here he is hunting hard over Hamilton Heights, crow in tow!

While the female kestrel on 155th takes a break from nesting duty.

This ragged juvy rth also flew over 155th, stooping on Jackie Robinson Park.


So many storylines, how will it all play out? Will the Cathedral pair be successful despite their troubles, or will they go the way of the Fenway pair? Will the new nest at CCNY be a success? Will the many kestrels nests produce another prodigious crop of fledglings?

Only the master conductor knows, and in due time He will tell us all if we listen carefully enough!