Early bird walk

Blue-winged Warbler (image from Wikipedia Commons)

I spent two hours in Riverside Park this morning, looking for early warblers like Yellow-rumps.  At first I thought I was too early (in the season) but the Drip has been turned on, and as the sun hit the trees, I began to see things flitting.  So I stayed longer, and saw a Flicker up quite close, taking a bath and poking around under rocks for bugs, then several Ruby-crowned Kinglets, several Towhees, and finally what for all the world looked like a Blue-winged Warbler, its bright yellow body fading into distinctively blue wings with two white stripes each.  (The photo above doesn't show the gray-blue wings very well.)  It was hopping around in the low shrubs, which is what Blue-winged Warblers do.

I know how eager birders get in the spring to see something new, and I never got more than a brief glimpse of this bird, but I'm pretty sure what I saw really was a Blue-winged Warbler. I think it was actually helpful that I'm still rusty on my warblers and didn't have my Sibley Guide, because it made me look more closely at what I saw. It will be interesting to see if anyone else posts one to our local birding list. And that's probably more detail than anyone other than a birder would ever want!

(Update:  A local birder later told me that my warbler I.D. was correct.)

The park was also full of a flowering yellow ground cover, and tulips and daffodils.  Morning sun turned the barely budding trees a bright yellow-green. The birding sanctuary smelled of rotting tree stumps, which are one of my favorite smells.  Everyone in the neighborhood seemed to agree that it was a good morning to be out, because by the time I left, there hardly seemed to be a square foot of empty space left, what with dog-walkers, joggers, kids on scooters, and hundreds of volunteers raking leaves on the park lawns.  (One of the advantages of homeschooling is that I got to pull weeds in the park yesterday with a few other moms, and talk about photography class, instead of volunteering with hundreds.)  I'm not so fond of crowds as I am of solitude, but clearly I am part of the crowd, too!

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Oh, and I had another one of those New York moments yesterday. On the sidewalk near my building where the supers put old items to be picked up, there was a 1950s-style golden pole with three attached aerodynamic lamps. Eyeing it as he rummaged around was a man who was homeless, mentally-ill, or both.  He was yelling something as I approached, which turned out to be an improv of one of those TV liquidation commercials of the sort that have bright flashing graphics and extra-loud volume:  "Lamps, tables...etc., etc.! Everything must go! Yes, everything must go!" Seems everybody just feels a little more exuberant this time of year.