The Chronicler's Tales

““M-I-C
See you real soon!
K-E-Y
Why? Because we like you!”
”

— Mickey Mouse Club Alma Mater

I take a lot of photos, and I have been going through them and have found quite a few that I think I should share. I have tried to come up with a theme for a blog posting. Are all the subjects birds? Well, most are, but there is a bunny. Are the birds taking a bath? Well, some are, but some are perching. Are the photos all from spring migration? No, not really. The earliest photo is from January, the latest from June 3. Were all taken in Central Park? Well, most of them, but two on Staten Island and one in Peekskill, NY.

So what do all these photos have in common? I like them!

Sometimes we just need to see some photos that interest us and make us happy. So here are some photos that have brought me joy.

This first photo, of a young bald eagle perched on a yacht club piling, has been on my phone for months, but I have not yet posted it. There will be a blog showing Eagles on Ice, soon, I hope.

I like photos that tell a story, as these two photos do. I was at Mt. Loretto Unique Area on June 3, and there was a cottontail rabbit on the pavilion meadow, frozen in fear. Looking up, I saw the cause: a bald eagle perched at the top of a nearby tree. The eagle seemed to be watching the bunny. After I photographed the bunny, from a distance, I took one step closer and the bunny hopped to safety.

*Frozen cottontail rabbit, Staten Island, June 3*

*Bald eagle watching frozen bunny, June 3*

I missed a lot of spring migration, but I was fortunate to see and photograph several pine warblers in Central Park. Here are four photos of three pine warblers, the first taken in February at the feeders, the second (same bird) at the feeders, on April 13. The other two birds were photographed at Belvedere Castle, also on April 13.

A trip to the Pool in Central Park on May 25 was rewarded with photos of a green heron and a black-crowned night heron. The slide show below shows the green heron.

*Black-crowned night heron, Central Park, May 25*

I am very fond of bathing birds. These photos are splish-splash photos, most taken at what birders call the “bathing rock,” which is just south of the Pool in Central Park.

*Very clean gray catbird, the Pool, Central Park, May 25*

*Baltimore oriole, Central Park, May 19*

*Baltimore oriole, Central Park, May 25*

*American goldfinch, Central Park, May 19*

Sometimes a bird poses enough that I take a lot of photos and then I have to choose one. Sometimes choosing just one gives me a headache, and I end up posting two!

*Northern flicker, Central Park, April 13*

*Red-winged blackbird, Central Park, May 25*

*Northern cardinal, Central Park, April 13*

One nice thing about having a Web site and a blog is that I can be very selfish about what I post. The real joy in photographing birds, by the way, comes from actually being outside in a park or on a beach, watching these birds be birds. So when I like a photo, I probably have memories of taking the photo that you can’t know, but that to me come through in the picture. The nuthatch and sparrow below are birds that I spent some time watching, and I hope I captured enough personality of each bird to share my joy in watching them.

*White-breasted nuthatch, Central Park, April 13*

*White-throated sparrow, Central Park, April 13*

I put together a slide-show video where you can watch all these birds, plus a few more, fly by while listening to a Chopin etude.

I imagine I will be posting more “Mickey Mouse Club” photos in the future, since I edit photos when I get around to them and sometimes just need to put them out there. Coming soon on the themed-blog calendar, I hope: Eagles on Ice, Van Gogh’s Flowers at the New York Botanical Garden, more entries in the Jamaica Bay series, beach baby photos from Nickerson Beach, and even more eagle photos. If you want to be notified when the next blog is published, sign up below.

“Come tiptoe through the tulips with me.”

— Al Dubin, "Gold Diggers of Broadway," 1929

When tulips are in their glory, there are few flowers that can match their brilliance. Anyone who has been to Keukenhof in the Netherlands can attest to that (I’ve been twice, and yep, they are magnificent). But this spring, I wasn’t able to check out New York City’s tulip gardens in their prime as I have in past years. The first day I was able to take my camera to visit the community gardens in Riverside Park was May 2, and I used that opportunity to check out the tulip offerings.

While I did see some tulips in their prime, I was able to photograph more of what I call “tiptoed tulips,” the ones that have been through their “how gorgeous” phase yet have continued to be interesting in their more distressed phase.

*Tulips in their glory, Riverside Park, May 2*

*A truly lovely tiptoed tulip, Riverside Park, May 2*

Check out some more tiptoed tulips. All photos were taken on May 2 with my Sony A7 RIV camera, using a 24-70 lens.

I did see a few more “untiptoed” tulips, and I hope you find these as interesting as I did.

The community gardens in Riverside Park at 89th Street are so special, showcasing the floral imagination of fellow New Yorkers who appreciate how satisfying creating floral art with mulch and dirt and seeds and seedlings can be. On May 2, there were other flowers available for my viewing pleasure, and I photographed some of these, too.

*Bleeding Hearts (Lamprocapnos spectabilis)*

*European columbine (Aquilegia vulgaris)*

*Star-of-Bethlehem (Ornithogalum umbellatum)*

I suppose it is only fitting to end this post with what I might call a “tiptoed fritillaria.”

Why? Because I Like Them!

Tiptoed Tulips

Seal Watching on the Manhattan II