New York Part 2

Date: 29th January - 31st January

Location:
New York (mainly Central Park)

Weather: 
-6 but much warmer than Quebec City but then turning to Blizzards.

Species Highlights: 
Red Bellied Woodpecker, Red Tailed Hawk, Tufted Titmouse, Evening Grosbeak, Cooper's Hawk, Northern Saw Whet Owl, Ruddy Duck.

Part One here

Observation: 
A 400 mile trip 1.5 hours flying time we touched down into La Guardia Airport almost dark so a Subway to a city view point, heavy rain stopped us getting the shots we wanted but a great night was had.

Morning came and a whole day in Central Park was planned.
Blue skies but -7 perfect weather and light.

Not so many American Robins around but still a smart bird.

We spotted this Juvenile Red Tailed Hawk just sunbathing with New Yorkers walking straight past him.

A few people stopped saying "Look a Owl!"

The Ramble area is always a good spot, there are a few feeders and in this colder time of year a good bet for birds.

The Blue Jay Profile Pictures.

Even the locals, of which most people in Central park are very chatty and willing to share info and said how many Tufted Titmouse were about, previous visits i'd only seen 1 and 2 this trip 10/20 seen.

Along with House Sparrows plenty of these White Throated Sparrows around.

America seems to have a good share of Sparrows 35 types in North America, this Fox Sparrow is rather smart too.

Tufted Titmouse on Lauren's hand helping itself to stolen Almond for breakfast!

Another American Robin.

There'd been 3 species of owl in Central Park over the last few weeks and are fingers we crossed they'd hang around unfortunately 2 species had departed but very pleased to find this Northern Saw Whet Owl, with a bit of local knowledge.
A tiny little owl, they perch at eye level, which is handy. A few shots and we left him to sleep, people were walking under and past his tree he didn't seem to mind.

Another bird that had been around for a few weeks was the Evening Grosbeak over at Riverside Park a 10 minute subway ride, had to be done. A few birders were looking but my eagle eyed daughter spotted it flitting around the trees.
A very smart bird and a little bit of course.

We walked back to Central park, Harlem end and this Red Tailed Hawk entertained while Lauren sorted her blisters out!

We saw 3 birds circling above Harlem Meer, a small lake.

We then walked a further 2 miles towards the Ramble to Jackie Onassis Reservoir with Shoveller, Bufflehead, Ring Billed gull, Canada Goose, Ruddy Duck and Hooded Merganser all on the far side. The weather was changing getting very cold with snow or Blizzard forecast within 4 minutes! After a few shots of this Cooper's Hawk are 4 minutes was up and a Blizzard started! 
Really, if only our weather forecasts were this accurate.

Very different from the totally blue skies earlier.

Shortly after this picture I slipped over, my hand still hurts Lauren thought it was hilarious!

That night after a hot shower we had a free meal at Hard Rock Cafe Times Square , special VIP treatment, Lauren's a good complainer!
After meal we were taken to the Balcony above the entrance, not many people get to go here.

The Final morning was upon us and more Central Park.

Mandy the world famous Mandarin Duck was re-found by us! 
It had disappeared for 2 days and the New Yorkers feared it had gone but our tweet had 400 likes and 50 retweets and some very happy Americans.

Brown Headed Cowbird in the Ramble.

Must have been 50/60 Common Grackle in the Park, very cool looking birds.

A female Northern Cardinal.

Something a bit weird a Leucistic Grackle.

American Goldfinch very similar to our Goldfinch squabbling on the feeders but summer the time to see these, looking a bit drab now.

Love this shot of a Norther Flicker a great looking tongue used for licking all those grub and alike.

Another woodpecker showed very well the Red Bellied Woodpecker.

And another the Downy Woodpecker, America has 22 species.

Male Northern Cardinal such a stunning bird a real splash of colour.

And the final shot of our fantastic trip the Tufted Titmouse.

We'd managed a total count of birds at 51 species, not very high but putting it down to weather, but i think you'd agree some beauties!

Hope you've enjoyed our blog if you need any help on locations travel or anything just drop us a line, always happy to help.Roll on May, when we return to New York, just me and Lauren 6 days of birding, it'll be a  Warbler mission, we'll do some travelling looking for good spots to bird.

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Canada & New York Part 1

Date: 23rd January - 31st January 2019

Location: 
Toronto, Niagara Falls, Montreal, Quebec City, New York City

Weather: 
Mixed but at its Coldest -37c

Species Highlights: 
Bald Eagle, Long Tailed Duck, Red Tailed Hawk, Tufted Titmouse, Northern Saw Whet Owl, Evening Grosbeak, Common Grackle, Mandarin Duck, Black Capped Chickadee, Northern Flicker

Observation: 

As we've done previous years for Lauren's birthday, we headed over to the States but this time taking in Canada, starting on the 23/01 with Toronto at a barmy 1c, a wind chill of -5c with rain this would change dramatically. Most of first day was travelling so after a sleep we headed out to explore Toronto. With views of the CN Tower from every angle.

We had planned on catching the ferry over to Toronto Islands and maybe seeing a few birds along the way, as we were waiting at the ferry port Lauren spotted our first top bird of the trip, a distant Bald Eagle feeding on the Ice. We had great views through binoculars and hoped to improve our record shots.

A short ferry ride breaking ice as we went and then arrived at Ward's Island, surrounded by Long Tailed Duck.

Around 100+ birds surrounding the islands.

Giving super close views.

Once we had got off ferry we walked across the Island towards open water and were surprised to see yet more Long Tailed Duck, Lesser Scaup, Buffleheads, Mute Swan, Goldeneye and our next top bird White Winged Scoter. Again a bit distant but another great looking bird.

Goldeneye & Lesser Scaup.

Along with Red Breasted Mergansers also we saw a American Mink hunting in the freezing waters.

Think this was his Den as he disappeared under the frozen rocks.

We walked around the island but there were few little birds to see so we did a few landscapes looking back to Toronto.

The small plane was flying into Billy Bishop airport, we'd be flying out from there on the 26th.

Heavy overcast skies made landscapes a challenge.

On the walk back to Ferry Port with small lens on, 2 Bald Eagles sored overhead and then disappeared, this is our best effort.

A single Black Duck arrived with a Quack.

But still the Long Tailed Duck outnumbered everything else.

With the ferry inbound the temperature seems to be dropping and my hands and face were frosting up.

I tried many shots to get a Long Tailed Duck and CN Tower in shot but a Goldeneye was all I could manage.

By pure fluke, I also sneaked past Lauren in our trip totals with a very distant shot of a Trumpeter swan, was very surprised as this was only Trumpeter we saw on the whole trip.

Once on Toronto mainland we walked along the waterfront keeping our eye peeled and spotted this Glaucous Gull scrapping with Ring Billed Gulls.

After a good but nippy day we headed back to hotel. After tea we walked the 2.5 miles through ice covered paths to Polson Pier for some night shots, the journey took forever and was freezing!!

A stunning view point but corr blimey it was cold.

The next morning we had a 80 mile bus tour planned to Niagara Falls, we had never been in the winter so we were looking forward to it.

The highlight for me and Lauren was Dufferin Island, another bus ride around 1.5 miles from the Falls but always worth the effort as its a real bird hotspot, even if the temperature was now -8 with a much lower wind chill and at least a foot of snow. Buses running and footpaths had all been cleared it was no problem getting around.

On entering the reserve we were surrounded by Northern Cardinal, Black Capped Chickadee, Downy Woodpeckers & Blue Jays.

Most of these images are not at 400mm birds are very friendly almost landing on the end of our lens!

White Breasted Nuthatch

Red Bellied Woodpecker.

On the whole trip Lauren had Black Capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, House Sparrow, White Throated Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Grey Squirrel, Black Squirrel.

We re-joined my wife and other daughter back at the the falls who'd be patiently waiting in Tim Hortons, best shop in Canada! 

After a Cheese Melt and Donuts we headed off to explore Niagara Falls.

The view from the Funicular Railway looking into Horseshoe Waterfall.

Full winter American Falls and Rainbow Bridge. (-8c)

September 2017 (20c)

American Falls, Niagara Falls is the combined name of both waterfalls.

Not advisable to waste 50 cents on getting your face stuck!

After Tea at Hard Rock Cafe, and falling snow covering 21cm we took the bus back to Toronto.

Next  morning was our last morning in Toronto so no visit would be complete without a visit to the CN Tower.

CN originally referred to Canadian National, the railway company that built the tower. 

The CN Tower held the record for the world's tallest free-standing structure for 32 years until 2007 and was the world's tallest tower until 2009. It is now the ninth tallest free-standing structure in the world and remains the tallest free-standing structure in the Western Hemisphere. Its has quite a good view!

The greater Toronto population is close to 6 million 

After the CN tower we were due to fly out from Billy Bishop airport, this is the view from the airport you may notice the sun is shining!

After a 320 mile, 1.5 hour flight we landed in a much colder Montreal at -12.

The following day we headed up to Mont Royal  233 m (764 ft) it overlooks the city and is a popular destination for tourist and locals.

The only birds we saw were Black Capped Chickadee and American Crow.

Freezing, long johns and 8 layers on too!

After overlooking the city we headed to The old town of Montreal and it snowed with 20 mins at least 6 inches of snow fell, but buses and people carried on.

After seeing nothing around the waterfront area bird wise we headed back up to Mont Royal for a night visit, looked a bit more colourful.

Hilton Garden Inn, our hotel.

The next morning more travelling, a 3 hour bus ride to Quebec City, a good way to see the countryside without the hassle of driving. 160 miles we stared through the coach windows very little bird life seen American Crow and Canada Goose, maybe -18c with a wind chill of -37c, yes -37c!! it was painful!

We caught a local bus to Montmorency Falls a waterfall in beautiful scenery.

The waterfall was unsurprisingly almost totally frozen.

Tiny dots at base are people, the waterfall stands at 84 m (276 ft) compared to Niagara 51m (167 ft).

So much snow but the stunning blue skies took your mind of the temperature -37....Not!

Orleans Island Bridge.

Bus ride back to Quebec City, Quebec is beautiful and a highlight of Canada for us very pleasant place to wander around with lots of history and Beaver Tails !!

If you ever get the chance you gotta try, Banana and Nutella on fried pastry, mmmm!

So we leave Canada and despite not a lot of bird life, its gotta be worth a visit when its warmer a truly lovely place.

After a 3 hour bus journey back to Montreal sleep then morning heavy snow a mad rush to Airport New York here we come.

One of the bird highlight from Canada.

Part 2 New York

Thanks For Looking! 

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  Thanks For All Your Support!

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