White Bibs and Yellow Eye Shadow

One of the sweetest sounds in Central Park is the chatter of the white-throated sparrows  (Zonotrichia albicollis). These wonderful birds call out to each other with such a joyful sound that I usually stop in my tracks to listen. And they do such a delightful dance when they dig for their bugs and seeds. Who can resist their yellow eye shadow and white bibs?

White-throated sparrow, April 15, 2016, Central Park

The clips in the Filming the Feathers video were shot from 2013 through 2016 in Central Park and other New York parks. The white-throats are some of my favorite customers, and they do enjoy the sunflower and other seeds. The music in the video is by Franz Anton Hoffmeister (Duet for Flute and Violin in G major, performed by John Bell) and Béla Bartók (Romanian Christmas Carols, Sz. 57, for recorders, performed by Papalin).

I have put more photos on the White-Throated Sparrows page. The following photos are from 2013 through 2016.

White-throated sparrow, Central Park, March 4, 2013

Hey Lady, I'm Not a Mallard!

Updated Dec. 11:

I have been told by a very good birder that this northern pintail is actually a young male. I have edited this post to reflect this.

I've seen just a few northern pintails, the most recent before Thanksgiving being a female at Turtle Pond in September. (See A Pintail Visitor, my blog posting on Sept. 22.) I admit that while I had seen the pintail female before, I am still not good at picking her out from the female mallards unless I know she has been spotted somewhere. In fact, I probably wouldn't have noticed the pintail I saw Thanksgiving Day at the Pool in Central Park if I hadn't been looking for what I thought at the time was a female pintail. But a young birder tweeted that a female pintail was hanging out at 100th Street, so I went in search. When I first saw the duck, I was convinced it was a female. Now I'm told that this is a young male pintail. Now I've seen the shiny black bill, long neck and blue-gray legs and feet a few times, I hope I will be able to identify a northern pintail the next time I see one. Will I know whether it's a young male or a female? Probably not.

Young male northern pintail at the 100th Street Pool, Central Park, Nov. 24, 2016

This duck is quite feisty! When I fed the mallards to draw him in, he held his own getting to the seeds. The males would go after him, and he'd come right back. During fall and winter, the pintail's diet is mainly seeds and insects. 

The second pintail Filming the Feathers video is set to music by Beethoven (the first video also was set to Beethoven — sort of a theme going here?).

All the photos are from Nov. 24, even the duck-butt photo!

Little Gray Birdies!

The tufted timouse (Baeolophus bicolor) was the first bird to come to my hand for seeds, so it has a special place in my heart. These are talkative, very active birds who flutter about on the ground and in the trees. They are delicate little birds, but stand up for themselves!

Tufted titmouse, Central Park, April 2016

The Filming the Feathers video is set to music by Beethoven (Symphonies 6, 1 and 8), condensed and arranged for recorder, performed by Papilan and obtained from MusOpen.org, a royalty-free music source. There is a lot of bathing, primarily because when they are enjoying a bath, they are relatively stationary and I can film them!

The photos cover four years, from 2013 through 2016, and a lot of sunflower seeds!