Morning Clouds and More On the East River

I spent another early morning out on the East River today. The clouds were billowing up and down the skyline in all shapes, shades and patterns. Some grew straight up.  Some lay flat.  Others dotted the glow of morning against a background of gray. Altogether, it was a beautiful way to start the day on a river that gets a lot of flack for it’s “lack of beauty.”  Well, maybe these photos (and those from other posts) will help people come to check out the waterway and care for it.

And I had to find some way to make the ConEdison building look kind of quasi ok-ish. In doing so I found that graffiti really pops in the morning light.

There were some lone birds nibbling on whatever scraps they could find.  Then, they gather for flight. It reminded me of Henry Beston’s classic nature memoir, The Outermost House, where he says this of the birds on Cape Cod, “Birds which have been feeding yards away from each other, each one individually busy for his individual body’s sake, suddenly fuse into this new volition and, flying, rise as one, coast as one, tilt their dozen bodies as one, and as one wheel off on the course which the new group will has determined.”

The Woman Who Talks to Pigeons

I was walking through Father Demo Square in the New York City’s West Village when a woman in a thick blue jacket began to throw bird seed on the ground from a plastic bag she held at her hip. Instantly, she was surrounded by pigeons, diving this way and that, swooping in for whatever scraps they could pick at.  She must have dropped eight or ten handfuls of the stuff, because soon she was once around the water fountain and pigeons filled the square.

As always, I had my camera with me so, like the birds, I swooped in. After snapping off only a few photos I heard someone behind me clapping and shouting “Fly home! Fly home!”  I turned around to see the woman who had just fed them staring at me with a concerned look on her face.  I smiled back.

“They don’t understand,” she said.  “They think that you’re trying to feed them, not take pictures.  And they need to go home.”

So, apparently, pigeons don’t understand the difference between feeding them and taking pictures, but they do understand the words “fly home.”  Thanks for the reality check, Dr. Dolittle.  Why don’t you tell them to stop pooping on statues or help fix the MTA’s budget deficit. Use those powers of pigeon communication for good, not the mundane.  And while I apologize for confusing the pigeons maybe you should just fly home too.

The Birds of Father Demo Square, NYC

Chasing Tail in Central Park

New York is For the Birds

Forget the corny headline – New York City is surprisingly a great city for birdwatching.  After listening to this crow for the better part of the morning I was prompted to consider all the birds of New York City. Turns out, there are 300 species of birds in the five boroughs.

Cacaaaaaaawww!

Gulls, turns, owls and hummingbirds. Rails, cranes, loons and grebes — they’re all here.  What’s the state bird of New York?  The common bluebird. For information on all of the birds flying around this city and tips to finding everything from great blue herons and Boreal owls to the more elusive Blue-winged Warbler visit nycbirds.com.

New York City Pigeons

I also spied online a website devoted to pigeon rescue. Visit New York City Pigeon Rescue Central for more information.