Central Park
grrlscientist | May 4, 2008tags: red-winged blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus, birds, Central Park, Image of the Day
Gerry or George IV.
Male Central Park red-winged blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George [larger].
Here is George IV (or Gerry if you prefer) in a more dignified pose. This is more befitting royalty, don't you think?
grrlscientist | May 3, 2008tags: red-winged blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus, birds, Central Park, Image of the Day
Gerry or George IV.
Male Central Park red-winged blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George [larger].
Bob Levy writes;
I believe there have been three successive male Red-winged Blackbirds holding the territory on the western half of Turtle Pond in Central Park since the main protagonist of my book Club George reigned there. I have given these males names. I call this one Gerry but the name "George" has become a kind of honorary title at the pond where visitors routinely call…
grrlscientist | April 26, 2008tags: Northern cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis, birds, Central Park, Image of the Day
Female Central Park cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George [larger].
Bob Levy writes;
I caught Mama Castle deep into her Yoga session. Here she beautifully demonstrates perfect form in her flawless performance of the Blowing Palm pose. I wish I could do it as well. Sigh.
grrlscientist | April 21, 2008tags: raccoon, Procyon lotor, Image of the Day
Central Park raccoon, Procyon lotor.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George [larger].
Bob Levy writes:
It's a little known fact but an incontrovertible one. Having had the opportunity to closely study the Central Park Raccoon population it did not take me long to discover that it is common for them to greatly exaggerate their exploits and accomplishments. In this image I was able to capture one typical example. Tsk, tsk. What a fibber. I was there. It was half that size.
grrlscientist | March 23, 2008tags: birds, Red-tailed hawk, Buteo jamaicensis, ornithology, Image of the Day
Red-tailed hawk, Buteo jamaicensis, in Central Park,
with blood on its talons.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George. [larger view].
Bob Levy writes;
I have two comments and images to add to my story of March 10, 2008 entitled "A Bulging Photo Opportunity" about a female juvenile Red-tailed Hawk. The first concerns a sassy if imprudent Gray Squirrel. Over a period of several minutes the furry creature deliberately came with a couple of yards of the hawk. I cannot know its motivation but to this observer it…
grrlscientist | March 22, 2008tags: birds, Red-tailed hawk, Buteo jamaicensis, ornithology, Image of the Day
Red-tailed hawk, Buteo jamaicensis, in Central Park,
being taunted by an Eastern grey squirrel.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George. [larger size].
Bob Levy writes;
I have two comments and images to add to my story of March 10, 2008 entitled "A Bulging Photo Opportunity" about a female juvenile Red-tailed Hawk. The first concerns a sassy if imprudent Gray Squirrel. Over a period of several minutes the furry creature deliberately came with a couple of yards of the hawk. I cannot know its motivation but to…
grrlscientist | March 10, 2008tags: birds, Red-tailed hawk, Buteo jamaicensis, ornithology, Image of the Day
Red-tailed hawk, Buteo jamaicensis, in Central Park.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George. [larger size].
The photographer writes: The plaintive hawk-alarm call of a Gray Squirrel alerted me that a raptor was in my immediate vicinity. As I headed in the direction of the sound I scanned the open branches on the periphery of a meadow where from experience I have learned hunting hawks will often perch. In hardly any time at all I was looking up at a large juvenile female Red-tailed Hawk only about twenty feet…
grrlscientist | March 3, 2008tags: birds, Northern Cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis, ornithology, Image of the Day
Male Northern Cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis, in Central Park.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George. [larger size].
The photographer, Bob Levy, writes; On Friday February 22, arguably the most wintry of days so far this season, as six inches of snow covered Central Park and more was falling I heard a male Northern Cardinal sing. That was the first cardinal song I detected this year and I took it as a musical sign that Spring is near. Since then I have heard other males sing and just yesterday I saw…
grrlscientist | March 1, 2008tags: birds, long-eared owl, Asia otus, ornithology, Image of the Day
Long-eared Owl, Asia otus, in Central Park.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George. [larger size].
Bob Levy writes: Did you know there are two Long-eared owls in Central Park this winter? They perch together in the Pinetum. My camera is not powerful enough to get a decent shot of them. Here's a not-ready-for-prime-time-posting-image of one. The other perches too deep inside an adjacent tree. There have been reports of a third but I have never seen it.
grrlscientist | February 26, 2008tags: raccoon, Procyon lotor, mammals, raccoon pr0n, Image of the Day
Raccoons, Procyon lotor,
mating on a tree limb in Central Park, NYC -- in front of the children!
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George. [larger size].
The photographer writes:
I hope its not too late to ask the kids to leave the room. If not, you might have to launch into your long dreaded and delayed explanation of the "birds and the bees." This arguably voyeuristic and slightly out of focus image was taken in Central Park at the height of the Northeastern Raccoon mating season.
In my continually expanding search for…
grrlscientist | February 14, 2008tags: birds, Eastern Screech-owl, Megascops asio, ornithology, Image of the Day
Eastern Screech-Owl, Megascops asio,
in its nest tree in Central Park, NYC.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George. [larger size].
The photographer writes; From 1996 to 2002 the New York City Parks Department in conjunction with the Urban Park Service (think Park Rangers) conducted a program with the intriguing if vaguely ominous name of "Project X." The purpose of the program was to reintroduce native animal and plant species that had vanished from our city parks and, in some cases, our region.
The "X" in…
grrlscientist | February 5, 2008tags: birds, House finch, Carpodacus mexicanus, ornithology, Image of the Day
Male house finch, Carpodacus mexicanus,
in a hawthorne tree in Central Park, near the Metropolitan Musum of Art.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George. [larger size].
The photogrpaher writes: For a few weeks I have consistently found a small flock of House Finches near the playground adjacent to the southeastern edge of the Metropolitan Museum of Art between East 80th and 79th streets close to Fifth Avenue. The playground has a decorative entrance known as the Levy Gate upon which a prominent but tasteful…
grrlscientist | January 28, 2008tags: turtle pond, reflection, NYC, Central Park, Image of the Day
Reflection on Turtle Pond, Central Park, NYC.
One of my series in "Monet Made Easy."
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George. [larger size].
grrlscientist | January 24, 2008tags: American robin, Turdus migratorius, birds, NYC, Central Park, Image of the Day
American robin, Turdus migratorius, among berries.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George. [larger size].
The photographer writes: A surprising number of people assume that all American Robins migrate south for the winter. We've all heard the expression suggesting that winter is over when we see the "first robin of Spring" when in fact a portion of the species remains with us all winter long. In Central Park, for example, every winter I find about two dozen robins foraging along the southern and western…
grrlscientist | January 22, 2008tags: Pale Male, red-tailed hawk, Buteo jamaicensis, birds, NYC, Central Park, Image of the Day
Pale Male, a pale-morph red-tailed hawk, Buteo jamaicensis, a few seasons ago as he appeared in the book, Club George.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George. [larger size].
I don't have a photo to show the actual event but I had a startling sighting in the park yesterday. Long story short: I whistled to attract one of "my" Northern Cardinal regulars but a group of eight White-throated Sparrows raced toward me instead. I thought it was neat that they had learned to recognize my sound the way…
grrlscientist | January 20, 2008tags: raccoon, Procyon lotor, mammals, NYC, Central Park, Image of the Day
Female raccoon, Procyon lotor, named "Brownie", who lives in Central Park, NYC.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George. [wallpaper size].
Two viewers of my images let me know that they do not share my enthusiasm for raccoons. Gee. Some folks have had bad experiences that have shaped their strong opinions. One, for example, went so far to suggest that blazing flame-throwers should be pointed in their direction. The other shares a similar though less overtly hostile sentiment. I sympathize and understand the motives…
grrlscientist | January 18, 2008tags: red-winged blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus, birds, Image of the Day
Female red-winged blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus.
Lady Hernshead stands on the rim of her nest but seemed at that moment to be more interested in what I was doing than in tending to Little Hernshead.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George. [wallpaper size].
grrlscientist | December 25, 2007tags: raccoon, Procyon lotor, mammals, NYC, Central Park, Image of the Day
Female raccoon, Procyon lotor, named "Brownie", who lives in Central Park, NYC.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George. [wallpaper size].
This sweet image is a Christmas/New Year's gift from one of my readers and long-time friends, Bob Levy, to me and to all of you!
The photogrpaher writes; I have been saving this image made last March as my Christmas and News Years present to you. I consider it to be the cutest of the cute from my "Almost-too-cute-for-words" file. I call this Raccoon Brownie because her fur is…
grrlscientist | December 14, 2007tags: Northern cardinal, Aix sponsa, birds, NYC, Central Park, Image of the Day
Male wood duck, Aix sponsa, in Central Park, NYC.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George. [wallpaper size].
The photographer writes: I was so lucky to get this shot that I had to create an entirely new file for it. After sunset, I started on my way home down the path along the Riviera (i.e. a section of the northern shore of Central Park Lake). I noticed a group of Mallards coming out of the water. They began to forage along the shoreline where they were joined by a male Wood Duck. Only a few Wood Ducks -- if…
grrlscientist | December 2, 2007tags: eastern gray squirrel, Sciurus carolinensis, mammals, Image of the Day
Eastern Gray Squirrel, Sciurus carolinensis, in Central Park, NYC.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George. [wallpaper size].
The photographer writes; I watched this Gray Squirrel dig out an acorn and proceed to gnaw away at it. There was nothing particularly unusual about that. Only after I downloaded the image did I notice the mud all over its meal. The animal made no observable effort to clean the acorn and I imagine that a considerable portion of it must have been ingested. Judging by how enthusiastically the…