Addicted to Christmas

Your Daily Christmas Videos!

I am putting up daily Christmas in New York videos on Facebook, on my personal page (you can follow me) or the Purple Monster page (in Facebook, search for @NorthPoleAmbassador, then like the page, and you'll get the daily videos in your feed). 

The stars of changing colors in the Time Warner Center, from Christmas in New York, Video No. 2

After Christmas Day, I will combine the videos into a Christmas in New York series (you can check out what I did last year on my Christmas 2015 page). So far, I've posted three videos: Bernardaud (a porcelain store at East 59th and Park Avenue), the Time Warner Center atrium stars with their changing colors, and the windows at Bloomingdale's. Lots more to come!

Sparkle, one of the Light (Chandeliers) windows at Bloomingdale's, Christmas in New York, Video No. 3

Coming soon: The Barneys windows, and the New York Public Library lions. Plus Bryant Park, the windows at Lord & Taylor, and many, many more! And don't worry, there will be a Central Park video!

One of the Barneys windows, featuring the Love Boat, coming soon!

A New York Public Library lion, decked out in holiday style, coming soon!

Two of my favorite videos from last year were the Central Park entry (in which Woody Wood Duck, Prince of the Pond, writes a letter to Santa) and the Metropolitan Museum Christmas story (the holiday tree and creche, plus annunciation, nativity and Madonna and Child paintings and sculptures). Check them out here:

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!