The Urban Park Rangers are excited about an event this Saturday and asked me to help promote it.  It sounds like a lot of fun with lots of great activities for both adults and kids.  It looks like the weather is going to be great too with a sunny day and a high of 62 degrees.

Urban Wildlife Appreciation Day

Fort Tryon Park, Cloister Lawn
Saturday, April 10, 2010
11:30 a.m.-3:00 p.m.

Getting to the park is easy.  Take the A train to 190th Street and exit the station by elevator. Walk north along Margaret Corbin Drive for approximately ten minutes or transfer to the M4 bus and ride north one stop.

Get up close and personal with NYC’s wild residents. Learn about squirrels, raccoons, coyotes, skunks, eagles and more. Enjoy musical performances, live animals, and kid’s activities.  Also, mounted park enforcement patrol will be there with their horses.  Discover the best places in NYC and NYS to watch wildlife. With the Fort Tryon Park Trust.  Ethnic food will be available for purchase.

Audubon’s Chrismas Bird Count is a wonderful tradition that started in 1900.  It’s a great event that welcomes birders of all skill levels.  These counts no longer are held on Christmas day, but on the days surounding the holiday.

In New York City, the dates are on the weekend before and after Christmas.  I’ll be attending the Central Park count on Sunday, December 20th.

For more details on the New York City counts, see the NYC Audubon website.

The intense thunderstorm on Tuesday night did an incredible amout of damage to the trees in the North Woods. The trees on the Great Hill seemed to be the worst hit. 

Bedrock is near the surface throughout much of the park and many trees have very shallow root systems.  A few of the trees used by the Eastern Screech-Owls were hurt including a large tree used by last year’s fledglings to roost in almost all summer.  A large number of trees used by raccoons also fell, including a favorite I call the Keebler Elf tree, since at times more than six raccoons lived in the base of the tree which was hollow.

I only had my long telephoto with me today, so I had to take photos of the damage with my iPhone at dusk.  These few pictures show only a fraction of the damage.

At dusk, we only saw glimpses of owls, so there are no photographs.  We viewed one gliding down to a standard post-fly out preening area, and one near a rustic bridge.  It would have been nice to know for sure, that both had survived the storm, but knowing that at least one made it was positive news.

Marie Winn’s Central Park in the Dark: More Mysteries of Urban Wildlife, her wonderful book about New York’s great park at night is now available in paperback for only $15.  It goes on sale today.  For more information about the book, visit her publlisher’s website at: www.picadorusa.com/centralparkinthedark

The book has received great praise:

“Central Park in the Dark is a delight; I’d follow Winn into the park at any hour.”–The New York Times Book Review

“A delightful chronicle of the animals that come out to hunt and play in the park at night . . . conveys the magic and enduring mysteries of Central Park.”–Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

“Winn is an engaging writer, making us care about the evening denizens of the park (human or otherwise).”–Booklist

“Winn’s book is a revelation. . . . A worthy addition to any nature lover’s shelf.”–Buffalo News

“Exuberantly illuminates Central Park’s vibrant 843-acre nocturnal world.”–Kirkus Reviews

“From screech owl rescues to slug sex, Winn pulls the reader into this tight-knit circle of people all searching for the same thing: a glimpse of nature in the midst of the hustle and bustle of the city.”–The Christian Science Monitor

I photographed the owl on the jacket in 2008.  For my blog entries about owls over the last few years, click on any of the Eastern Screech-Owl Blogs links on the upper left hand corner of this blog.

Rob Jett has a wonderful blog entry about Bobby Horvath's rescue of a young bald eagle out on Long Island.  Click here to read the article.

Bobby was involved with assisting many of the Red-tails that got into trouble in New York City this summer.  If you're looking for some last minute 2008 tax deductions, and you're a NYC Raptor lover, I can think of no better donation then to help Bobby's organization. 

If you’d like to make a monetary donation, checks can be made out to “Wildlife in Need of Rescue and Rehabilitation” and sent to:

WINORR, Inc.
202 N. Wyoming Avenue
North Massapequa, NY 11758

On Tuesday, September 23rd from 6-9 p.m. New York City Audubon will be holding its annual Fall Roost Benefit at the Boathouse in Central Park.  I’ve gone the last few years and have had a wonderful time and will be
attending again this year.  If you live or work in New York City, you
should consider attending.  Tickets start at $250, ($125 for persons under 35).

I’ve donated a framed print of six young ducklings chasing after their mother at Turtle Pond, to the silent auction.

The framed, signed print is number three of a twenty-five copy edition.  The
print measures 10″ x 8 1/2″ and the frame is 15 1/2″ by 13″. 

If you attend the auction, please consider bidding on the photograph.  I’ve donated the item, so 100% of your winning bid will go directly to support NYC Audubon’s on-going conservation and education programs in the five boroughs.

For full details of about the event and how to purchase tickets, go to the New York City Audubon website.