djringers favoriter

Gooped and gagged! I was sitting atop Discovery Hill about 9:30 a.m., waiting to see if there would be any visible migration of raptors or water birds, when I heard the soft, rich chuckling of a large woodpecker behind me. Expecting to see a flicker, I turned and looked over my left shoulder as this bird, longer than my forearm, landed at the base of a small sweetgum no more than 10-12 feet away from me. I gasped out loud, and the bird also looked quite startled and immediately took off south. I ran down the hill toward Picnic Point and saw the bird coming back toward me. I got a few photos as it disappeared over the hills. As the morning went on and Mary Beth Kooper and then Ian Bell arrived on the island, we realized that the bird was doing roughly counterclockwise loops of the island, clearly uncomfortable to be here but unwilling to cross the water. I saw it fly south past Discovery Hill again around 10:27 a.m. at eye level—I think I swore out loud—which was 5-10 minutes after Mary Beth had seen it at Colonels Row. Later in the morning and up till about 12:30, I saw it several times near Fort Jay and the Manhattan ferry terminal, with the Lower Manhattan skyline behind it. It was calling periodically throughout the morning, a loud and far-carrying sound on the small island. The bird had a black stripe behind the bill and a blackish forehead, indicating that it is a female. First eBird record for Governors Island, and for New York County south of the large, wooded parks at the northern end of Manhattan.

Five photos under UV light and last two photos with flash. We found this tiny individual by shining a UV flashlight in clumps of grass. It was actively and methodically hunting among rocks and vegetation. Amazing!