The season brims and spills. Buds crack open. A warbler drops in like a whispered dare. Birds trade silence for shimmer.
Somewhere nearby, a spiderwort blooms for half a day, dies, and blooms again.
We meet at a threshold—of mid-spring, of morning, of the moment before something beautiful reveals itself.
Again and again and again.
—TNM
📣 QUICK UPDATES & ANNOUNCEMENTS
Next Sunday, May 25, join McGolrick Bird Club and SWIRL NEW YORK CITY at Under the K Bridge Park for the first-ever SKATEBIRDING event.
We’ll start around 10AM with a bird walk from the park entrance, heading downhill toward Newtown Creek. After that: shred the skatepark. No experience needed—come learn birds and swerves.
We’ll have a few spare binoculars and boards—first come, first served. More info to follow over on Instagram.
MICRO-SEASON: MAY 5 - MAY 18
Micro-seasons are everyday proofs of a great cosmic dance between Earth and Sun—our blooming Mother and the eternal muse to whom she currently bows.
This micro-season, in McGolrick Park, our proxy for NYC (and perhaps even larger swathes of the eastern U.S.), one noticed:
Firsts of season:
Bay-breasted Warbler · Cape May Warbler · Canada Warbler · Eastern Wood-Pewee · Red-eyed Vireo · Yellow-throated Vireo · White-eyed Vireo · European Starling & Mourning Dove & American Robin fledglings
Blooms, greens, goings on:
Virginia Spiderwort · Common Columbine · Rock Crane’s-bill · Common Star-of-Bethlehem · Black cherry florets · Onion pods open · Viburnums · Amur honeysuckle · Clouds of shivaphis (?)
Full bird list:
American Crow · American Kestrel · American Redstart · American Robin · Baltimore Oriole · Bay-breasted Warbler · Black-and-white Warbler · Blackpoll Warbler · Black-throated Blue Warbler · Black-throated Green Warbler · Blue Jay · Blue-gray Gnatcatcher · Blue-headed Vireo · Canada Goose · Canada Warbler · Cape May Warbler · Chimney Swift · Common Grackle · Common Raven · Common Yellowthroat · Double-crested Cormorant · Downy Woodpecker · Eastern Towhee · Eastern Wood-Pewee · European Starling · Fish Crow · Great Blue Heron · Great Crested Flycatcher · Gray Catbird · Hermit Thrush · House Finch · House Sparrow · Laughing Gull · Magnolia Warbler · Merlin · Mourning Dove · Northern Cardinal · Northern Flicker · Northern Parula · Northern Waterthrush · Ovenbird · Red-bellied Woodpecker · Red-eyed Vireo · Red-tailed Hawk · Red-winged Blackbird · Ring-billed Gull · Rock Pigeon · Rose-breasted Grosbeak · Ruby-crowned Kinglet · Savannah Sparrow · Scarlet Tanager · Swainson's Thrush · Swamp Sparrow · Veery · Warbling Vireo · White-eyed Vireo · White-throated Sparrow · Wilson's Warbler · Wood Thrush · Yellow Warbler · Yellow-bellied Sapsucker · Yellow-crowned Night Heron · Yellow-rumped Warbler · Yellow-throated Vireo
Nota bene: The birds above are from the entire micro-season, not just our Saturday outings!
Virginia Spiderwort blooms for only half a day, but produces flowers daily for several weeks! [source]
Brush up on the 5 eastern vireos [here].
We’ve now been tracking micro-seasons for one full year! A special issue of The Noticer’s Monthly is in the works to celebrate this milestone. Stay tuned.
MICRO-LESSON: HERONS & EGRETS & MORE
During last Saturday’s Bird Club outing, a Yellow-crowned Night Heron flapped through McGolrick—a First Seen for the park and an uncommon sight in Kings County.
In honor of this strange visitor—and because late spring and summer are peak heron/egret seasons in NYC—we bring you this crash course in walkabout waders.
First, the names.
Heron vs. egret? No big deal. Egrets are just white herons, fancied up with a French-sounding name for the ornamental aigrettes (plumes) they grow in breeding season. Both belong to the family Ardeidae. Both wear long legs, long necks, and sharp bills. Both wade slow and strike fast.
Let’s meet the regulars:
Great Blue Heron (Approx. 4 feet tall)
The most common U.S. heron. Blue-gray body, dagger-like yellow bill, black head plumes. Tall, still, and ghostly.
NYC: Year-round near water— esp. Prospect Park, Jamaica Bay, Bronx River. (Range)
Yellow-crowned Night Heron (Approx. 2.5 feet tall)
Luchador mask: black face with white cheek stripes and a soft yellow crown. Red eyes. Crab-crushing bill. Smooth gray body.
NYC: Uncommon summer visitor. More often seen further south. (Range)
Black-crowned Night Heron (Approx. 2.5 feet tall)
Chunky and pale with a navy crown, red eyes, and a hunched silhouette. Sweet little rat-tail. A Jenny Odell favorite.
NYC: Year-round. (Range)
Green Heron (Approx. 1 feet tall)
Small, striking, secretive. Deep burgundy neck, glossy green-black back, yellow legs. Always crouched.
NYC: Summer visitor from the South. (Range)
Great Egret (Approx. 3.5 feet tall)
Elegant and tall. All white, long S-curved neck, yellow bill, black legs. Spring plumes flow like lace.
NYC: Summer visitor. (Range)
Snowy Egret (Approx. 2.5 feet tall)
Bright white, black legs, flashy yellow feet. Wispy plumes in spring make it look half electric.
NYC: Summer visitor. (Range)
Extra Credit I:
Other U.S. Ardeidae species you might notice—often in the South, rarely in NYC—include: Little Blue Heron, Reddish Egret, Cattle Egret, Tricolored Heron.
Extra Credit II:
Thoth (Approx. 7 feet tall, probably)
Egyptian god of wisdom, magic, judgment, and record-keeping. Ibis-headed. Moon hat. Writes it all down—your dreams, your doubts, every scarab’s name. Voice like papyrus turning in the dark. (Probably.)
Wait—what’s an ibis?
Not herons. Ibises are birds made of curves, with downward bills and tabletop postures. Learn the White Ibis (Florida/Gulf), Glossy Ibis (East Coast shimmer), and White-faced Ibis (West Coast) to more or less master them. Then bow to Thoth.
Extra Credit III: And what about, like, cranes and storks?
- Wood Stork (the U.S.’s only stork): Tall, bald-headed, oddly elegant. Found mostly in Florida and the Southeast.
- Cranes: Two to know—
Sandhill Crane (wide-ranging but mostly found on the great plains; dinosaur call; 2.5-million-year-old species 🤘😭)
Whooping Crane (rare, endangered; mostly found in a Texan wildlife refuge)
Feeling more grounded in your wading bird wisdom? Shore hope so. (Get it? Shore?)
😑
I’ll leave now love you bye.