Tag Archives: Central Park birding

Blue Jay

Blue Jay

Blue Jay with Nesting Materials

Blue Jay with Nesting Materials

Both members of the Blue Jay pair gather material and incorporate into nest, but males appear to do more of the former, and females more of the latter. The outer shell is composed primarily of strong, fresh twigs, sometimes thorny species, but also may include dead twigs. Twigs used in outer shell of the nest is usually taken from live trees, often with great struggle. Size of twigs decreases toward nest cup. The cup usually is lined with tough rootlets; sometimes lined with wet, partially decomposed leaves and mud is often incorporated in nest

I took this picture in the ramble in the Central Park Ramble

Northern Flicker

Northern Flicker Female

Northern Flicker Female Foraging

Northern Flicker Female Foraging

Although it can climb up the trunks of trees and hammer on wood like other woodpeckers, the Northern Flicker prefers to find food on the ground. Ants are its main food, and the flicker digs in the dirt to find them. It uses its long barbed tongue to lap up the ants.

Click the arrow below to hear the sounds for the Northern Flicker

Sounds of the NorthernFlicker

White-throated Sparrow in Spring

White-throated Sparrow Breeding Plumage

White-throated Sparrow Spring

White-throated Sparrow Spring

Central Park was filled with the lovely White-throated Sparrows in breeding plumage yesterday. Crisp facial markings make the White-throated Sparrow an attractive bird as well as a hopping, flying anatomy lesson. There’s the black eyestripe, the white crown and supercilium, the yellow lores, the white throat bordered by a black whisker, or malar stripe.