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May 4th 2008
Cerulean Warbler The icing on the cake of 18 warbler species for the day was a singing adult male Cerulean Warbler on a residential street on the Upper West Side. The Cerulean Warbler page contains pics and a little additional context.



April 18th 2008
A birding trip to central and southern TX on April 10th-18th had unusually good luck and netted all the target life birds: Black-capped Vireo, White-throated Robin, Red-billed Pigeon, Hook-billed Kite, White-collared Seedeater, Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, Groove-billed Ani and Aplomado Falcon. I've edited the trip report but there are no photos added yet.

April 4th 2008
The Rio Grande border fence, as currently proposed, promises to eviscerate threatened habitat and bury at least one precious preserve behind the fence in the name of "security". Thankfully there's growing resistance to it in Congress, although time is short. Read my post to NYSBirds-L on this subject. Also I made an analogous post to the group eBirdsNYC back in May 2007. The fence is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2008.

March 30th 2008
Western Tanager A first spring Western Tanager was discovered in Central Park on March 26h 2008, and I took a few average photos of it on March 30th. I've placed some discussion of the ID here. I personally lean toward immature female.



Jan 28th 2008
Scott's Oriole After an initial discovery on Dec 4th, a Scott's Oriole went unidentified until Ardith Bondi posted her pictures of it on the net. A brief ID revision later, and Union Square Park became the latest venue for rare bird seekers - this one a potential first state record for Scott's Oriole in NY. I waited until Jan 28th to visit the bird one sunny morning, and it did oblige a couple of times in posing for photos. (See here for images and text, or my gallery page for this species). This individual appears to be a match for a first winter immature male.

Jan 20th 2008
Pine Grosbeak Spent half of one Sunday rummaging for boreal species along the southern edge of the Catskill Mtns in Sullivan County NY. Mixed results, but some very nice views of Pine Grosbeaks in Grahamsville (click on icon or here). Rough-legged Hawks were also present in decent numbers (4) at Shawangunk NWR including a dark morph. I had not seen that species in a few years. Short-eared Owls were conspicuous by their absence in frigid and windy conditions, however.


2007

Nov 22nd 2007
Pink-footed Goose in Montauk To cap a very waterfowl-intensive 8 days that started off with Masked and Muscovy Ducks in TX on November 14th, I drove all the way to Montauk on Long Island to find the Pink-footed and Barnacle Geese that were at the Deep Hollow Ranch in Theodore Roosevelt State Park. Both were ultimately quite cooperative - see the pictures here. Also at the site were two Western Kingbirds and a flock of Red Crossbills.


Nov 17th 2007
A very brief trip to Texas in the week before Thanksgiving was prompted by the presence of breeding Masked Ducks in a roadside pond north-west of Corpus Christi. These turned out fairly easy to find but the icing on the cake was seeing three Muscovy Ducks at the Salineno boat ramp to the Rio Grande river at dusk of the same day. The rest of the 3.5 day trip turned up the usual suspects and there were a lot of road miles involved (Houston to the RGV and back).

Sept 8th 2007
Connecticut Warbler in Central Park This Connecticut Warbler turned up in Central Park on Sept 8th 2007, found by Tony Lance and seen by many (click on icon to see pics). The bird lingered near Hernshead in what was at times a surreal location just behind an amplified guitar player who was "entertaining" an audience on the west shore of The Lake. Apparently oblivious to all the fuss, the Connecticut persisted until late in the day but was not found on subseqent days. This was one of a series of Connecticut Warblers that were to show up in Central Park that fall, including another exceptionally tame one up at Sparrow Ridge (Sept 18-20th) and a more elusive one at Summit Rock (Sept 23rd).

July 15th 2007
Western Reef-Heron in Brooklyn (click on image for larger version). An exceptionally rare find of a Western Reef-Heron (or if you prefer, Western Reef-Egret) was made by Alex Wilson on July 8th at Dreier-Offerman Park in Brooklyn - now apparently renamed Calvert Vaux park, not that this location would have been appreciated by Mr. Vaux in it's current form. Apparently quite wide-ranging, this bird was also sighted from Staten Island and also from Sandy Hook. It was also not entirely reliable at the Brooklyn location, but nevertheless many people got to see this remarkable rarity.

Western Reef-Herons have been cropping up on the east coast over the last few years. There was one in Newfoundland in the summer of 2005. There was one in Nova Scotia from June-August 2006, and another one or the same one in Maine and NH August-Sept. 2006. Apparently prior to this cluster of sightings the only other record was from Nantucket (MA) in 1983. Either we're getting really good at finding Western Reef-Herons or they are getting really good at finding us. The species is apparently closely related to Little Egret (itself very rare in the US) and some authorities consider it a subspecies of that - there appears to be no firm concensus on the situation as of now.

May 13th 2007
Curlew Sandpiper This adult male breeding plumage Curlew Sandpiper was at Heislerville WMA in NJ on May 13th 2007, one of at least three that were at that site in spring 2007. This was one of a series of five Curlew Sandpipers seen in southern NJ in May 2007 - three at Heislerville (1 male, 2 females), and ones at Stone Harbor Point and Brigantine NWR. Click here for pics or on the image.




May 13th 2007
Summer Tanager This Summer Tanager was highly cooperative in Central Park on May 13th 2007 - seen at eye level multiple times and also on the ground. The bird appeared to be in molt - the uppertail coverts in particular were both a deep red and also not lying flat. Closer inspection of the photos reveals that one central retrix (R1) was fresh and probably still growing, as well as one or two innermost tertials. The rest of the tail feathers were relatively abraded, as you'd expect. I've decided that this is probably a first spring male, from a combination of factors: the deep red of the undertail and uppertail coverts, the replacement of that central retrix (just the one, although conceivably this could be from damage) and the relatively pointed outermost primaries. Most passerines do not replace their flight feathers (incl. tail feathers) in the pre-alternate molt, although apparently this sometimes happens in hatch year birds (as per Pyle - Identification Guide to North American Birds). Click here for pics or on the image.



April 30th 2007
Whip-poor-will Whip-poor-will, Hooded Warbler and Snowy Egret were all to be found in Central Park on April 30th 2007, the best migration day of the season so far. I also managed to find 11 species of warbler, considerably improving over the mere 4 the previous day. Click on the icon or click here to see pictures of these three species. Perched goatsuckers such as Whip-poor-will are sometimes the subject of not inconsiderable ID debate although Whip-poor-will is expected to be the commonest of the two. A Chuck-will's-widow was found relatively nearby a few days later on May 3rd - see this link for a fledgeling ID article for how to tell a Chuck from a Whip when viewed from below. Input is always welcomed on this - it's not well represented in the field guides or anywhere on the web.

Feb 28th 2007
Snowy Owl Returning to Piermont Pier on Wednesday I found the persistent and relatively tame Snowy Owl in an even more accommodating location only 30 yards off the road devouring yet another unlucky Ruddy Duck. This owl showed the somewhat atypical behavior of plucking Ruddy Ducks from the water, apparently using only one talon, and was quite a success at it too. Click on the icon or click here to see the pics.









Feb 26th 2007
Ivory Gull An adult Ivory Gull turned up at Piermont Pier on the Hudson River in NY and on the morning of Feb 26th was pretty cooperative as was the prior celebrity of the area - the Snowy Owl - perhaps an example of the Patagonia Rest Stop effect. The Ivory Gull was feeding on the remnants of a Ruddy Duck that the Snowy Owl had caught. The Ivory Gull however only remained for a couple of days. North American populations of Ivory Gull appear to be in rapid decline (see this article for example) and it is tempting to point the finger at Global Warming given its impact on other Arctic ice-dependent species like the Polar Bear. Increased vagrancy might be an outcome of a fragmenting population, but then this could just be a random vagrant. Preliminary pics, prior to populating the Gallery with the rest of them. Click on the icon or click here to see the pics.





2006

Thanksgiving 2006
Great Kiskadee I spent 6 days over the Thanksgiving weekend reacquainting myself with Texas birding, including areas around Houston but mainly the Rio Grande Valley. In the process I manage to find lifers such as Sprague's Pipit, Cackling Goose, Green Kingfisher and Audubon's Oriole. A trip report is here with some embedded photos (more to come). The Great Kiskadee at left was photographed at Sabal Palm preserve near Brownsville, in the process of swallowing recently caught prey.







Rufous Hummingbird During an early winter influx of Selasphorus hummingbirds, one of ambiguous identity (probably female Rufous) turned up at a traditionally good site for such birds - Lenoir Preserve in Yonkers. See my hummingbird page for this and other vagrant western hummingbirds in the NYC area over the past few years.
This juvenile Clapper Rail was a lot more confiding than your average adult, walking right up to my car at Jake's Landing in southern NJ. However that day even the adults were uncharacteristically cooperative.
Broad-billed Hummingbird Anna's Hummingbird
Magnificent Hummingbird Broad-tailed Hummingbird
The trip report from my epic 5,900 mile AZ-NM-CO-WY western trip is mostly complete and the photos from it in are in a gallery folder (old gallery folder here). It will be a little while until I finish culling/editing all 2,000 photos however. Highlights included Flame-colored Tanager, Rufous-capped Warbler, White-eared Hummingbird and White-tailed Ptarmigan. I even have photos of some of them.
Cape May Warbler This adult male Cape May Warbler in full breeding plumage was very cooperative in Central Park on May 7th. I've uploaded two pictures on my recent additions page as well as the Cape May Warbler page in the main gallery. Unusually cooperative, predictably belligerent towards other warblers, it was nevertheless silent while I was observing it.
Barnacle Goose The origin-uncertain Barnacle Goose was still at Eisenhower Park on Long Island on Jan 8th 2006, and proved fairly tame - photos by myself and David Speiser are on this page.
Black Guillemot My first Black Guillemots in the USA were on a whale-watching trip in Maine in July 2005. So naturally, a Black Guillemot turned up in NJ the same winter and did a very un-Guillemot thing: it stuck around for a week. It even came in fairly close - and I managed to grab a few pictures of it. These pics were taken at Barnegat Inlet on the morning of Dec 11th 2005. More pictures of this bird here
Golden Eagle A little further from NYC, I finally found my first Golden Eagle on the east coast, on Dec 3rd 2005 at Brigantine NWR in New Jersey near Atlantic City, and it even circled fairly close to me so I could grab a few images. Brigantine held quite a few Bald Eagles as well. See more eagle images here
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker A weak cold front on the evening of Sept 23rd brought lower numbers than anticipated but did bring in a whole lot of the typical late fall species like Brown Creeper, Dark-eyed Junco, Hermit Thrush and this Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. This bird is an immature male - despite the extensive mottled brown the very first red forehead feathers are starting to molt in.
Eastern Phoebe The cold front also brought a lot of Eastern Phoebes into the park. Most seemed to leave the park on Saturday night (Sept 24th) but this was one of a couple of birds that remained in the Maintenance Field on Sunday.
Swainson's Warbler Swainson's Warbler joined the remaining Prothonotary in Forest Park and if you could actually find this unobtrusive bird, it proved relatively tame. More pictures of the Swainson's are here from photos taken on April 16th 2005. Last known sighting of this bird in Forest Park was April 17th 2005. More warbler photos on my warbler gallery.
Yellow-throated Warbler Yellow-throated Warblers put in an appearance in several NYC locations and on Long Island in early April 2005, including one or two individuals in Central Park. I even found one on the Upper East Side on April 25th in flowering trees along E66th St. Yellow-throated Warbler sightings in Central Park persist through mid May. Click here for a bigger pic taken on April 10th 2005 in Central Park at Turtle Pond. More warbler photos on my warbler gallery
Prothonotary Warbler Prothonotary Warblers have also appeared early and in unusual numbers at Forest, Central and Prospect Parks, and elswhere like Jamaica Bay and Hempstead Lake State Park. I spent a fair amount of time observing a tame (and possibly sick?) first spring male Prothonotary in Forest Park on April 16th 2005. More pictures of the Prothonotary are here as well as in the warbler gallery.
Boreal Owl A Boreal Owl was found and identified by Jim Demes and Peter Post on December 19th 2004, an entirely unexpected find during the Central Park Christmas Bird Count. This is the first record for NYC and one of the regionally rarest birds to have turned up in the park. You can see some more pictures of it here and various owl pictures here. The bird was last seen in January 2005.

Ruff at Jamaica Bay - Rex Stanford's pictures of the Ruff he discovered at Jamaica Bay on May 17th 2005.

Photographs:

  • I contributed 11 pictures to a Reader's Digest book Where the Birds Are, mainly concerning birds in the eastern region around Central Park - see more details here. My new bird gallery (running Gallery v2) is at catharus.com. Images from the old gallery (here, Gallery v1) have been transferred. My bird photo stock list holds a more expansive listing of images that I hold, but is usually in a state of flux as new images replace older ones. That stock list is alphabetic since I use automated Un*x scripts to generate it, but I also have a manually curated stock list sorted by families for a more conventional viewpoint. There's also an emergent selected bird photos by species page. I now have a bird photo and NYC birding blogs.

    Photographs from 2007:

    Photographs from 2006:

    Photographs from 2005:

    Photographs from 2004:

    Photographs from 2003:

    Photographs from 2001/2002:

    Other Photographs:

    NYC Birding:

    New project: NYCbirds.com
    eBirds NYC resurrected: I've restarted eBirds NYC as a Yahoo Group, following Ben Cacace's retirement from his selfless role as list maintainer for many years. You can subscribe by sending email to ebirdsnyc-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. The archives are publically accessible via the eBirds NYC home page. You have to be a member to post, via ebirdsnyc@yahoogroups.com. I've recently constructed an eBirdsNYC FAQ that deals with (mainly) subscription issues.

    Subscribe to ebirdsnyc:   

    I'm the list owner and moderator. You can send me email about eBirdsNYC to: ebirdsnyc-owner@yahoogroups.com.
    I now also have a NYC birding blog.

    NYC Metro Birding Links

    (Lots more of this sort of thing at nycbirds.com)

    (Entries marked with [*] are via Jack Siler's birdingonthe.net)

    Miscellaneous

    Ethics and Bird Photography

    Not that the ethics of birding is any less important, especially in the aspect of taping, but it's been my observation (and others') that bird photographers cause more stress per capita than birders due to the close-approach issue.

    Related: my previous little rant about Rob Jett and his definition of birding ethics has moved here.

    Birding Lists

    The birding equivalent of narcissism, and in my case how I actually keep by World and USA life lists:

    Birding Trip Reports

    Photography

    Go browse photo.net.
    My 10 cents on bird photography systems (revised, but digital photography is a moving target).

    Visual illustration of focal lengths.

    For the thicker-skinned amongst you, see Arthur Morris rant on the internet (this was copied from the photo.net Nature Forum, but the thread on photo.net has subsequently been edited to increase the average civility in the discussion). I particularly love the part where he asserts that you can get laser-sharp images with stacked 2x teleconverters (that would be an effective 2400mm f16 based on a 600mm f4 prime). Must have been a pretty soft laser.

    The Job

    I'm a Structural Biologist, meaning that I study the mechanisms of protein function via determining their three-dimensional structures at or near atomic resolution. I use X-ray crystallography as the method of choice. I am involved in basic research, meaning that the majority of my results add to our specific or general understanding of the normal and abnormal functioning of the cell, rather than directly applying them to patients. I'm now working at the Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University as the crystallography facility manager. Before that I had the analogous position at Memorial Sloan-Kettering in NYC, for a number of years.

    Over the years I've been involved in a variety of research projects, of which the highest profile ones were on the tumor suppressor p53 (mutated in over half of all human cancers), the cell cycle machinery of the cyclin-dependent kinases, and the breast cancer-associated proteins BRCA2 & BRCA1 (part of the DNA damage response pathway). Nevertheless I've done quite a few more structures over the years - very recently I've been doing research in cellular suicide (apoptosis) and regulation by phosphorylation (or rather, dephosphorylation by PP2A) amongst other things. I keep some sort of online bibliography if you're curious.

    Comments etc to my email address.

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