BIG APPLE BIRDS YOU CAN’T SEE ON ABACO…

This post is the converse of my LAST POST, as we prepare to visit the City of the Trump Tower for a few days. There are some birds found in NYC that have never been recorded for Abaco – some not even for the Bahamas at all. A few of these are surprising absences.

Northern Cardinal, Central Park NYC

The Northern Cardinal, to take one example, is a common and widespread bird in many States. It is the emblem of many sporting teams and *FUN FACT ALERT* it is the state bird of more states than any other species – 7 in all! Sorry, what did you say? Oh, OK, they are Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia. [It is said, rather bathetically  that “it was also a candidate to become the state bird of Delaware, but lost to the Delaware Blue Hen.“]

Downy Woodpecker, Prospect Park Brooklyn

On eBird the east coast of Florida is positively flaming with Cardinal hotspots. The birds smother the state that is just across the water from the Bahamas. Yet the only recorded sighting for the entire Bahamas is a single bird on South Cat Cay, Bimini. Anyway, here are some nice birds to look at, mostly from Central Park NYC and Prospect Park Brooklyn. If anyone sees the last bird in the series on Abaco or indeed anywhere else, can you kindly let me know?

Cygnet, Prospect Park Brooklyn

Brown Creeper, The Ramble, Central Park NYC

Blue Jays, Central Park NYC

Black-capped Chickadee, The Ramble, Central ParkApologetic note: I find these little flickery birds very hard to photograph. They are specially trained to move at all times and to get behind twigs & branches the minute they see a camera

Tufted Titmouse Central Park NYC

White-throated Sparrow, Prospect Park Brooklyn

Mute Swan, Prospect Park Brooklyn

Raphus cucullatus (Dodo), American Museum of Natural History

There’s one of these in the Natural History Museum in London; also in the Oxford University Museum of Natural History (parts of one, anyway). Where else in the world, I wonder?

 Normal Abaco Service will be restored in a few days… RH