Signs of Spring...even if it was flurrying...

I took a walk in Prospect Park, Saturday the 16th of March, hoping to see the Varied Thrush. No thrush for me but I saw some subtle signs of spring.... even if it was flurrying

Spring buds

A Ruddy Duck turning ruddy. Love the blue beak

A male Hooded Merganser cruising for females

He was putting on quite a display. He would rear up hood elongated, lean back and make this croaking noise. I had never heard them make a sound before.

This is him on the wild side... What's not to love Ms. Merganser???

That got her attention

My mother called from CT to say there were three Robins in her backyard Friday. Maybe Spring is on the way... even if it is snowing today.

Central Park Birding

I experienced birding in Central Park for the first time. Luke Tiller from Sunrise Birding http://sunrisebirding.com/ and http://underclearskies.com/ led again with a little help from Catherine of Birdspot, http://mydogoscar.com/birdspot/. We saw lots of Warblers but they were way up in the trees and I didn't get any pictures except for the Black and White Warbler, which I really wanted to see. The rhodendrons were blooming and provided a lot of color to the park and I got a few shots of them and a few other assorted items, but I'll save those for later this week. It was great to be with so many experienced birders because honestly the warblers are hard to spot, and even when you get them in your bins it's sometimes hard to sort them out. It's a lot easier when someone says, "a Magnolia Warbler at 10:00," and then you can find it. My thanks to all those birders but especially Luke and Catherine.
Oops, these aren't birds! I just liked the color and the symmetry Two Red Umbrellas and Two Trees.
Black and White Warbler

Red-Bellied Woodpecker

Robin on a nest. We saw three Robins nesting and those nests were not too far off the ground either.

Fledgling robins

This is one of the robin fledglings I enjoyed watching for a couple of days in a neighbor's backyard.

There were three of them and they were flying a little but mom and dad were still feeding them.

Mom/Dad meets up with one of their babies to give them a worm.

Yes, this is badly out of focus but I still love this photo. The baby saw mom had food and went running towards her. You can see the little mouth wide open saying "I want some or feed me, feed me!"