More Central Park birds

More Central Park birds from my trip to New York in April 2016, trying out my new camera.

Central Park is a great place for birds and according to New York City Audubon more than 280 bird species have been recorded there, and of those 192 are regular visitors.

 

A Northern cardinal (below)

Same bird in the shade with its tail in the frame. (below)

White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) is above. This bird has a beautiful call, said to sound like "old Sam Peabody, Peabody, Peabody", or, if you are Canadian like me, it's "oh sweet Canada, Canada, Canada".

House Sparrow. I know these birds are as common as muck in New York and elsewhere, but here in the isolated city of Perth we never see them. They are an introduced species in all the east coast cities ofAustralia, but have not made it west yet.

American robin. These are common and they breed in Central Park.

They are nothing at all like the Australian robins, or indeed the European robins. They are quite large (24cm) and not really a robin, but a migratory songbird of the thrush family.

Birds of Central Park New York, the Canada Goose

I didn't have long in New York's Central Park when I visited in April 2016, but managed to find a few birds just by wandering around and trying to find a quiet spot away from joggers, walkers and cyclists.

This Canada Goose was sitting on the nest enjoying the spring sun beside the lake near the jogging path in Central Park. 

Once considered an icon bird, the reputation of the Canada Goose has taken a hammering in the last 20 years. Because it is breeding so rapidly, it is now considered a pest.

Yet, I can recall the excitement of first hearing a flock of geese honking in the distance and then witnessing that V-formation passing overhead. That was many years ago, in the early Spring around Ottawa in Canada.

The Canada Goose has even turned up here in Australia; a few appeared on the New South Wales coast in 2007. The were added to the list of Australia's pest species.