More Reasons to Care

Climate change, global warming, offshore drilling, plastics clogging our oceans, toxic dump sites, deadly fertilizers and pesticides and dangerous genetically modified seeds, fish dead zones from agricultural manure, mining in our parklands — there are so many threats to our environment and to the beautiful animals who share the Earth with us. I walk along the beaches and in the parks to photograph the birds and other critters. The threats to them are real, and the reason I get so angry at the idiots in our government who have taken over and are trying to destroy our planet. Much of this Web site is dedicated to videos and photos of feathered and furry friends. Here are some of the most recent reasons we should care.

All three of these animals were filmed on Staten Island. The residents I have met there are fighting fearlessly to protect the habitat of these magnificent creatures.

Harbor Seals

Harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) like to "haul out," or rest, on rocks offshore of Staten Island. I saw them hanging out near the beach at Mount Loretto Unique Area on November 8, 2017, and January 31, 2018.

Harbor seals on Staten Island, January 31, 2018

I set the video to music by Alexander Borodin and Johann Strauss II.

Below are some photos from November 8 and January 31. For many more, visit the harbor seals page.

Redheads

I am extremely fond of ducks, and, of course, my dear friend Woody Wood Duck, Prince of the Pond in Central Park, has the greatest part of my love. I had never seen a redhead (Aythya americana) until we visited Baisley Pond Park in Queens on January 18. Given the ginger tops, these ducks quickly won a big place in my heart.

Redhead, Baisley Pond Park, January 18

Is there a Filming the Feathers video? Of course there is!

The photos below are from January 18 at Baisley Pond. For more photos, see the redheads page.

Groundhog

To celebrate Groundhog Day, I posted a video and photos of a woodchuck we saw at Wolfe's Pond Park on Staten Island on September 18, 2017.

Groundhog, Wolfe's Pond, Staten Island, September 21, 2017

Groundhog Day? No, Groundhog Minute!

Oh, Those Golden Slippers!

The yellow "slippers" on the snowy egrets set them apart from other herons like the great egret. I saw my first snowy egrets in July 2015 at Marine Park in Brooklyn, and spent much of the summer of 2017 watching these beautiful birds with great personalities at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens, Wolfe's Pond and Lemon Creek Park on Staten Island, Marine Park, and Pelham Bay Park, near Orchard Beach, in the Bronx.

Snowy egret, Wolfe's Pond, Staten Island, September 1, 2017

Snowy egret, October 19, 2017, Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge

These beautiful birds were so much fun to film. I have posted two videos in the Filming the Feathers series, the first covering July 25, 2015, to September 21, 2017, and Part II from September 29 to October 21, 2017. You can watch them catch and eat fish, and run around, sometimes looking as if they haven't a clue where they're going!

I took loads of pictures of these photogenic herons. Here are some taken in 2017, and you can see more on the Snowy Egrets page.

Hawk Fights

It's winter, and time for visiting juvenile red-tailed hawks in Central Park. They're coming through, trying to establish themselves, and sometimes they fight with each other, or the resident adult hawks knock them off their branches and chase them out.

On Christmas Eve, we were following a first-year hawk as he hunted and flew around the Bethesda Fountain area. We called him Stretch because he could really stretch his neck up to look around. While stretching that neck perched on a branch of a tree just west of Bethesda Fountain, he was smacked by another, larger first-year hawk. Thus was the first Battle of Bethesda Fountain. After the fight, Stretch flew south and the winning hawk surveyed her realm from a tree on the east side of the fountain. The following photos were pulled from the video, which you can see below.

Stretch, before the fight, hunting near Bethesda Fountain, December 24, 2017

Victoria, the victorious hawk, December 24, 2017

The victorious young hawk we named Victoria, and we followed her that evening and for several days after. On Christmas Day, we followed Vicky around the Bandshell/Bethesda area. She was hunting, and her Christmas wish was granted in the afternoon: a squirrel dinner.

Victoria on Christmas Day, after an attempt to catch a squirrel

I put together another video, called Ho! Ho! Hawks!!!, which covers December 25, 27, 29 and 31. Most of the video shows little Victoria, and there is graphic footage of her eating a squirrel and a rat. I tried to cut it down a bit, but it is interesting to watch how she keeps looking around to protect her meal while eating on the ground (the squirrel was too heavy to fly to a tree). There is a brief look at Fred, the West Side adult red-tailed hawk that believes Bethesda Fountain is his territory, looking down before chasing the kid.

These photos show the kid on December 25.

These photos are from December 27 and 31.

After New Year's Day, we saw Victoria on January 5 and 7. On the 7th, she was first near Strawberry Fields, where Ginger, Fred's red-tailed mate, was perched in a pine tree staring at her. The youngster flew east, but then flew to Cherry Hill, where Ginger chased her out. After more attempts to return, the youngster went after Ginger, and would probably have kept fighting if Fred hadn't swooped in and chased her off. Two kids fighting? Victoria wins. Victoria tag-teamed by two adult hawks? The adults, no question! Fortunately, I was able to film part of the battle.