Day 231: August 18th – Urban Birds

Sunny, low 80s, calm winds

    

   Not exactly your typical birding outing today.  Rather, Sharon and I took our granddaughter Emily to the theatre as we had promised to do some time ago.  Matt Saldivar, a graduate of our local High School where I taught for a considerable number of years was starring in a Broadway show entitled “Peter and the Star Catchers”.  As an aside, he was great and the play was marvelous.  If you get the chance, don’t miss it.

       Anyway, back to the nature of things in New York City.  Birds abound!  Central Park is truly one of the birding hotspots on the east coast.  Unfortunately, we were not checking out the birds in Central Park.  Rather, we were in Times Square, in the middle of all the hustle and bustle of the Big Apple on a gorgeous summer’s afternoon.  

       After a fine lunch at Bubba Gump’s Shrimp House (introduced to us by our granddaughter), we strolled around the square in search of the natural shot of the day.  We had plenty of birds….one species only.  Not even a House sparrow was on site.  The bird we did have was the one bird most closely associated with humans and city life….the Rock pigeon.

 

       Originally native from Europe to North Africa and India, it can now be found in cities throughout the world.  The more wild birds living out in the country live primarily on seeds.  The city dwellers, however, find it much easier to forage by simply scouring the sidewalks and feeding on scraps left by humans, either intentionally or otherwise. 

       The pigeon is sometimes considered to be a pest, but is not known to have any negative impact on other native species.  Many humans enjoy the intimacy of these birds and welcome their presence.  Another species welcoming the pigeons to the cities is the Peregrine falcons which are not uncommonly found living on the ledges of the city’s skyscrapers.  We welcomed the pigeons yesterday for one simple reason.  It gave us our shot of the day in an environment where find any semblance of the natural world can certainly be a challenge.

       And don’t forget…..see the play!