Spring, at Last

I got up before 7am for the early-morning alternate-side-parking shuffle. On the way out, my wife said sleepily, "Are you going out birding?"

I wasn't going to, but I grabbed the camera anyway. Doesn't hurt to take a quick look around Inwood Hill Park.

Dark-eyed juncos foraging on the ground; song sparrows and red-winged blackbirds singing in the marsh grass by the soccer field. A pair of blue jays, yammering at some unseen raptor way up on the ridge. And an eastern phoebe: one of the first migrants to arrive in the spring, a little gray bird, buff yellow breast, pumping its tail, flying up and down from ground to branch.

If anything, these pictures show the limitations of the camera. Or my ignorance of some of the camera settings. I have a 250mm lens, f5.6, and a more knowledgeable friend, a professional photographer, said that f-number means that it doesn't let much light in. Lower f-numbers (focal length?) are better. Even on a moderately overcast morning, there was a distinctly long shutter click for these pictures, which means that even though the focus was tight, the slightest incidental motion of the camera gives the pictures a slight blur. The second picture simply happened to be taken in better light.

Well, I don't have the means to shell out for a top-of-the-line 400mm lens. That's ten grand! Yikes! I have bought cars for less. I'll have to compromise with a bargain-basement 400mm and a monopod.

Spring, at last?

Finally, the last gasp of the polar vortex has come and gone. It may be still a good 20 degrees below normal, but there are no below-freezing temperatures in the forecast for the next ten days, the crocuses are out, and Isham Park is mobbed with dozens of robins. Good enough for me.

I'm on the hunt this year, so to speak. My life list is at 187/174: 187 actually seen, worldwide, with 174 pictures. I'm aiming to reach 240 by the end of the year, and update some of the mediocre pics along the way, and put 'em all in a good online album.

End of the Long Winter

The official first day of spring has come and gone, but this long winter just won't let go. March 23rd and possible snow on Tuesday night, with temperatures in the high 30's. It's entirely unreasonable for this time of the year.

There's a silver lining to this, though: some of the wintering birds have a reason to hang around a bit longer. In my neighborhood, there has been a white-winged scoter that's lingered quite late in Inwood Hill Park, which obliged me by swimming into the inlet early last Sunday morning:

But the upcoming weekend is supposed to warm right back up again, thank goodness. In the meantime I'm gonna see if I can catch any late winter stragglers before this (hopefully final) cold snap goes away.

First Post

Welcome to the CoffeeBird blog! I am an amateur birder in New York City.

I began birding in summer 2011. I'm going to migrate (ha) my birding photos to this site over the next few weeks, as well as update with continuing experiences in birding and nature in general.