2025 Ducks - Part 1

I've had a good time photographing ducks over the last several months. Below are some of my favorites.

Ring-Necked Ducks (females): 

Male:

 

Blue-Winged Teal (male):

He's so pretty, I took a lot of pics.

There was a female around on this day, but she remained asleep for my entire visit!

This is my first Common Eider (female), seen at Coney Island.

Hooded Merganser (male):

White-Winged Scoter (male):

This is my first female White-Winged Scoter. She remained at a distance, but was still a cool sight.

Black Scoter (male):

A flock of Black Scoters at Coney Island.

It's the time of year we start seeing interesting ducks moving through the NYC area, so I look forward to seeing more species this season.

 

2025 Fall Foliage - Part 3

Taking a stroll through some more cemeteries to see the fall foliage, which has been pretty good this year. The photos below are from Brooklyn and Queens.

Below is a photo of Most Holy Trinity cemetery in Brooklyn, which can be seen from the Canarsie-bound L train. It's a special place because of the metal grave markers. Note all the little cubes dotting the grass. These are what's left of markers that were stolen several weeks ago. A vandal apparently loaded up his truck with the metal markers to sell for scrap. I couldn't believe it when I found out. What type of person does that? And worse, who are the scrapyards buying these? Consequently, the cemetery is closed indefinitely, so its beauty is now observed from a distance.

Here is a good NYT article with more details about the cemetery and its history (free link via archive.today).

 

See previous Fall Foliage posts here. 

2025 Fall Foliage - Part 2

Following my previous fall foliage post, here are a few more autumn scenes from around the city.

This is the North Woods in Central Park on an overcast day: 

A serene moment at The Pool:

I spent a sunny fall day in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, a must-visit in the fall when everything is beautiful and smells really good. 

Green-Wood has some spectacular Japanese Maples, which are well worth a visit.

The bright sun on this day kind of washed out the brilliant colors in these photos, but you get the idea.

More to come.

2025 Fall Foliage - Part 1

I love this time of year when the fall foliage peaks here in the city. We've had some really beautiful days so far this season with bright blue skies that highlight the spectacular oranges, yellows, and reds.

Cemeteries are great places to find colorful trees. Below are a few images from Brooklyn and Queens. 

Governors Island is usually a good place to go to see some colorful trees, but I was a little late this year and missed my favorite American Elm changing color.

My favorite year for Governors Island was 2020, when the trees were absolutely stunning. Inexplicably, many of those trees have since been chopped down.

Moving on to Prospect Park in Brooklyn, which has been really stunning this season. The photo below is looking across the lake towards the peninsula. Hard to believe this is NYC!

These images are from the back end of the lake which was a serene and relaxing place to be on this day.

More to come...

 

See Fall Foliage memories from the last several years here.