Towhees, Thrushes, ETC. @ the Ramble, Central Park!

Central Park is a green gem among one of the most massive city skylines in the world.  Birds that have been migrating over this area for millennia now revert to this rectangular mass of people, pets and plants to bulk up their energy reserves.  Many birds find a suitable living and for the most part these residential birds are some of the most habituated on the planet.

This makes Central Park an ideal place to get close to birds in order to photograph them.  Central Park, in particular, the Ramble, is a place where you can find a good number of "regulars" among the birding scene.  Many of these people are incredibly advanced in their birding knowledge and some lead birding tours, travel the world doing research or simply enjoy seeing and photographing our feathered friends.

This last Saturday (10-19-12) turned out to be an absolutely gorgeous day.  This being my third time in the Ramble, I was able to reconnect with some people I had met my first time.  As day eventually turned into evening I finally got out my Better Beamer and gave it a shot.  To my surprise, I quickly got the hang of it.  A -3 to -2 compensation exposure on my external flash along with 1/1600 shutter speed suited me nicely.

Male Eastern Towhee bathing in a stream.

Some decent looks at the female Eastern Towhee (formerly known as the Rufous-sided Towhee).

Mrs. Towhee taking a bath!

My last shot of Mr. Towhee before it was time to put on the Better Beamer.

The male towhee in "the beam".  The first photo has a leaf shadow on the head.  After finally seeing the coloration of both sexes, I really like the female's colors better.

The Hermit Thrush was fairly abundant around the Ramble.  I had been there a week earlier and saw Swainson's and Wood Thrush as well.  This weekend, unfortunately, it was only Hermits.  I confirmed with several of the other regular birders that the Swainson's and Wood Thrushes had moved on.

White-throated Sparrows were absolutely everywhere!

A got a couple looks at a Red-tailed Hawk hovering over the Ramble.  A regular birder of Central Park named Kevin had brought to my attention (a week earlier) that some of the resident Reds who nest in NYC were killed by rat poison this past breeding season.  This guy was most likley a survivor or a migrant.  : (

The Tufted Titmouse is very numerous.

Rock Doves are almost extinct in NYC, "jk"...good "full frame" practice I guess.

Blue Jay (above) and Northern Cardinals (below), two staples of the Ramble.

Mourning Dove

Gray Catbird

These American Robins and several of the above images were great practice with the Better Beamer!  I feel like I am ready to tackle anything now.