Exploring a Natural Area

Often, after school in high school, I would go to Central Park and follow a trail starting on 68th St. I would go across the famous white bridge and through the woody area with multiple trails by the pond. There’s an area where water flows down, where there are rocks lined up vertically. I would love to climb up and down them. On the other side there’s a spot I never noticed. The stream meanders from a source further away. I really enjoyed the scenery. I was able to feel connected to my sentimental past memories while observing this area.

A lot more leaves have collected in the stream. I didn’t hear as many birds as before but I did hear some birds. There were Blue Jays, House sparrows, and Tufted Titmouse. I spotted and identified a new bird, the Mourning dove. It is beautiful; it has the color brown and tints of blue and purple. I was walking all around my spot taking pictures of plants to later identify. One time, as I was walking on the narrow rock on the side, I dropped my  phone and it plummeted into the stream. I had to act quickly and get it out. I learned a valuable lesson. If I’m working near a stream, I should be very careful and not bring my phone. I also learned that going inside my spot is not allowed in Central Park. It was blocked off to preserve the park. I felt guilty when I heard that. It made sense because it had a lot of woody plants that people could kill if they stepped on them too much. After I was told to leave, I decided to look at my spot from walking around it. I could see a lot that way. I found the bridge on the other side and walked along it. I spotted a person putting a bird feeder on the bridge post. I spotted a female northern cardinal and the pileated woodpecker I had previously seen in the higher trees. I enjoyed watching the squirrels. They are so adorable! I’m still having trouble identifying the flowers.

The snow is close to melted. The Mourning doves yearn in their desire for the feeders of grain and seeds on the bridge post. Birds greet the people walking down the bridge. Families of house sparrows occupy their tangled bushes. Tufted Titmouse, darted, cutting through the air with their small bodies, lost in the sea of branches. Blue jays wish for an answer when they beckon with loud repetitive tones. Once your eyes are trained to see them, you’d have to be blind to not notice. The stream is teeming through rocks. Trees mourn for their deciduous fate, clinging onto their leaves, blessed that most shrubs still have them. In Centennial, winter has taken their leaves, ones of red maples, sugar maples, and yellow birch. There aren’t as many folks walking down trails and the birds don’t interact with those who do. Standing proud are eastern white pines with its tops touching the sky. Bird echoes are what can be heard in the canopy. It takes binoculars to observe them in their habitat. Here there’s the faint call of kinglets from the tops of pines, the fairest and most envied of song. Chickadees here aren’t free moving, they hurry fearfully to build warm nests in cavities. Woodpeckers peck their homes in cavities. All know relentless old winter is coming for them. Hemlocks by the stream droop their branches in sadness. It’s a matter of time before the swift stream, that collected leaves, freezes. As the woods are colored with bleak, I expect winter is approaching.

November falls with leaves. It’s colder but the snow from the storm left. Wings flutter as moving shadows quickly to other trees. A multitude of House sparrows fly in the depth of tangled branches. The Blue jay bellows its call as another responds. It flies in the lower edges of woody trees and on branches of taller trees. The water trickles slow through the channel downstream. Ripples flow through the leaves that sit delicately on top each other. English grey squirrels race each other across the log hanging over the stream. The leaves rustle as squirrels forage for nuts. This is the center where all birds from either side pass, a ceremony where house sparrows sing among northern cardinals. It’s a harmonious celebration of diversity. There are numerous kinds of woody plants and trees that surround the width, Ashes, Whorled wood asters, Rowan shrubs, Elms, Boxelder, Striped maple, and Tulip popular. Black-capped chickadees perch on black cherries that hang high. American beech leaves turned sunset orange. Crabapples hang with their berries by the bridge. White flowers sprouted. Mourning doves gather, huddled on the ground. Majestic tufted titmouse fly quickly across different branches. Rodents skitter in and out of cracks in the stone wall. There’s a wooden bridge, rustic and fitting of the setting. When bird feed is placed on the post, they will fly from all directions, a true spectacle of beauty.

I got this book to help me identify and learn more about mushrooms.

I found my spot after wandering in Central Park. It is in a stream area above the downstream with rocks. Immediately I see all the different kinds of trees and hear the sounds of multiple different birds. The spot has so many shrubs and prickly woody plants. There were numerous birds that flew in and out of shrubs.  There were loud Blue jays, sparrows, Tufted titmouse, and a Northern Cardinal that flew to different trees across the width of the channel of the stream. It was difficult to get around the channel. I’ve been stabbed by the prickly woody trees trying to get a better look at the sparrows. A lot of the deciduous trees have leaves that are still falling, unlike the spot in Centennial Woods. There is a lot of leaf litter in the stream. It moves slowly and trickles through the rocks to the bottom area with rocks. I noticed there were a lot of squirrels chasing each other. There was also a black squirrel, something I haven’t noticed often. I still need to go back and identify many different kinds of plants; my phone died before I could get enough pictures.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?hl=en&hl=en&mid=176Atxm1tv27YAB2-UKqxFZXNZAmAgSOZ&ll=40.77758581854713%2C-73.97066686112487&z=21

I haven’t spent a lot of time in my spot for the past couple of weeks. I did visit my spot twice. Once was to observe birds; I went with Jacob from NR1. There were a lot of birds out and we identified a variety of new birds and wandered around past my spot. The second time I went out I had to finalize my GPS plots. It took awhile for my google maps to recognize my coordinates when I put them in. Leaves were still falling and oak trees still had their leaves. I noticed some American Beech leaves, which is interesting because I haven’t yet spotted any beech trees. I noticed the mushroom fungi are smaller. I came up with a short poem I’m going to post!

I’m glad it was sunny today so I could draw my event map! I noticed the bird sounds are closer to the ground. I decided to follow the sounds. I noticed there were more nests. Birds are starting to settle in to to certain trees, preparing for winter. I noticed almost all the sugar maples have lost their leaves. There were more white oaks and northern red oaks visible. The white and northern red oaks are both starting to lose their leaves. I realized that I always tend to go back to sit on this one log during my visit. It’s where I settle down and I could be the most attentive. I can hear birds from all directions from that spot. Today I went off the path and found a bird house. There were multiple Black-capped chickadees. It was so amazing to see all those birds flying in and out of the birdhouse. I was able to see a black capped chickadee near the ground picking from a snag. I saw communities of chickadees flying on Eastern hemlocks probably getting ready to settle in those trees. I’m looking forward to identifying more species that I have sighted.