By Vladimir Brezina
Last weekend at NYC’s Central Park Reservoir. An icy cold day. The Reservoir is mostly frozen over, leaving just a patch of open water where all of the Reservoir’s birds have congregated.
Johna surveys the panorama. (Click to enlarge any photo.)
Midtown Manhattan rises up beyond.
The birds are mostly Canada Geese and ducks, including some varieties that we’ve never noticed here before—they are probably from Canada, down for the winter. They paddle through the patch of open water, squabble, or just stand silently on the ice, beaks tucked into their back feathers, facing into the cold wind.
The blue shadows lengthen as the sun goes down, lighting up the East Side on the other side of the Reservoir with its last rays.
More photos are here.
Vladimir Brezina (RIP) 
Johna Till Johnson
Wind Against Current 
I enjoy being able to visit NY through your lens. Thanks so much. These are very nice shots of the geese.
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Thanks, Pat! I’ll keep posting them… :-)
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Wow! Beautiful shots! :-)
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Thanks!!
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Beautiful photos – yes, looks like a Northern Shoveler in the 5th & 8th photos. The bill is a really distinctive filed mark, but you didn’t get that view so it was harder to identify. So pretty in that late sun – well, I don’t miss the cold you guys just had but I miss the sun!
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I did get some shots of the broad bill, but the photos weren’t that good so I didn’t post them. The bill was actually a feature that we remarked on immediately as we looked at the birds. It’s just that many of the photos on the Internet were taken from the side, where the bill looked even more peculiar, so we weren’t quite sure of the identification.
It was a bright sunny day but it was COLD…
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Thanks for the clarification! It was actually quite a thrill when we realized these birds were different from the mallards. We aren’t really serious bird-watchers, but our powers of observation have been sharpened by years of kayaking…
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You did it again! :) Beautiful photos! I agree with Pat – I love seeing NY through your lens! It’s a beautiful place! Thanks!
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Thanks, Becky! :-)
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Picture-poscard perfect photos. I especially like the first one in the series. Nicely done.
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The first one is actually a ~180-degree panorama stitched together in Photoshop from about 7 individual photos :-)
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Lovely photos. Thanks for sharing.
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You are most welcome—thank you!
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Lovely sequence of shots – looks like a popular stop-off for the geese and ducks :-)
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I believe it is. There are the ordinary, year-round resident geese and ducks, but in winter there are all kinds of additional species, such as the Northern Shovelers (I’ve never seen them here in the summer) and, out on the sea, huge numbers of brants.
For other kinds of birds, too, including those migrating up and down the East Coast, Central Park is apparently a favorite spot, being a green space in a large built-up area… It’s certainly a favorite spot for bird-watchers!
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VB–I’m sorry I wasn’t in the City to see such a beautiful sight last weekend. I tried to pin your first photo on my “Places and Spaces” [http://pinterest.com/gaylealstrom/places-spaces/] board on Pinterest, but it was too large.
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Here’s a smaller one. The quality is not as good but still acceptable.
Click on it to open it in a separate tab or window, then click on that to download.
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Love the close ups of the geese and tha last few landscapes. Stunning Vlad!
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Thanks, Madhu!
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lovely photos.. i especially love the 10th photo..
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:-) Thank you!
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Absolutely beautiful! Thanks for sharing.
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Thank you!!
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I agree with Madhu. The geese and the reflection pix are awesome!
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Glad you like them!
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I feel like I am there feeling the cool air on my face! Thank you for the pictures.
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Cool air would have been nice! Instead we got bone-chilling wind…
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Great geese shots – they look much happier than if they’d stayed here! How cold is it actually? My own Miss Z is down in your neck of the woods next week and debating coat choices….
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Last weekend, when these pictures were taken, the daytime highs were in the twenties (degrees Fahrenheit), night-time lows in the teens. And that’s in NYC’s heat island; just a few miles outside the city the temperatures were ten degrees colder. Of course, this is nothing special for those living in many places further north, but for us it’s cold!
Since then, however, it’s warmed up considerably. The cold dry weather has been replaced by warm wet weather. Yesterday, when we were in the warm sector of a passing system, the temperature rose up to sixty…
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That will give Miss Z every excuse to take advantage of Fashion Week….
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… and thanks for the on the spot weather report!
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However, the weather is pretty changeable right now—the low-pressure systems speed by pretty fast—so I would recommend keeping an eye on the official weather predictions.
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Weather forecasting is about as predictable as the weather – we’ve had rain, sun, sleet, wind and now snow – just in the last 5 hours…
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That’s why they routinely predict something like a “50% chance of precipitation”… that is bound to be correct ;-)
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Fabulous photos, Vlad. It does look extremely cold up there. :)
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Coldest few days so far this winter…
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Your pictures make me happy.
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Good! :-)
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Beautiful pictures!
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Thanks!!
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Excellent capture! It looks like even without the bed of birds, the reservoir still looks awesome esp. with that perfect sunray position and the cityscape from afar.
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It does look awesome—the birds were an unexpected bonus!
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Stunning Shots! Great Blog! Congrats
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Thank you so much—glad you like it! :-)
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Brrr and WOW! Fantastic array of photographs … love the golds and blues of the natural lighting.
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Yes, it might be time for a Florida post next…. (I saw your Florida pelican :-) )
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Actually … I’m home again near Toronto, Canada.
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… and it’s even colder there than here ;-)
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NY looks stunning!
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It often does!
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Wow these are some beautiful photographs! The northeast is such a beautiful place to spend outside this time of year!
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Except we are still waiting for some snow, and getting impatient! ;-)
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brilliant photos, i know that spot well so it is a joy to see the winter view and all the immaculate geese :)
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Everything looks prettier in winter when there is snow and ice… but if not, not.
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I like them all but the last three with the striking blue and brown tones are amazing!
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I’ve learned to be on that side of the Reservoir as the sun sets behind me and lights up the other side :-)
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Thank you for reminding me of a lovely day last year. My friend and I walked from the Guggenheim to the John Lennon memorial garden, taking the long way around the far side of the reservoir. Beautiful shots!!
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Glad to have brought back happy memories! :-)
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Beautiful pictures – the lot of them!
So enjoying following the pair of you….
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We are so glad, and happy to have you following us! :-)
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Lovely! The first photo is stunning!
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Thanks, Fergie! The first photo is a stitched-together panorama…
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You take me back to when I live in NYC and went running around this reservoir frequently. Beautiful photos!
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Hasn’t changed much, probably… glad to have brought back happy memories!
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Beautiful photos! The panorama one is stunning.
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Thank you, Angie!
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Such beautiful photos – they’re travel-brochure worthy
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Thanks! (There probably already is a brochure with views from this spot—most obvious places in NYC are photographed so many times…)
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Stunning scenes!!
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Thanks!!
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Amazing, Vlad, that top photo is gorgeous and those bright orange feet made me smile!
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Thanks, Ailsa! Yes, those bright colors on birds’ beaks and feet amaze me—I always wonder how they generate those reds, oranges, and yellows…
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These photos are just superb.
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Thank you, Indira—so glad you like them!
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These are amazing pictures. I particularly like the ‘wave’ of ducks.
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:-) Thanks, Kerry!
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Hi Vladimir, thanks for stopping by my blog. I love the panoramic shot of the reservoir in particular, it’s very effective. The sun peeping over the top of that building is a nice touch. Great photos.
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Yes, those panoramas usually turn out well; Photoshop is surprisingly effective at stitching them together… Thanks for stopping by!!
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Really great photos, Vladimir! The winter light has such a shine to it and you’ve captured it so well. It looks like the kind of day that brings New Yorkers out to squint and smile at the sun.
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Thanks, Greg—you’ve provided there a very nice summary of the feeling that day! :-)
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These photos are breathtaking! The color of the birds against the ice, and the composition of the cityscape against the water… Wow!
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The cold certainly took our breath away ;-) But yes, the park can be pretty spectacular on a day like that. Now, how about some real snow?
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Stunning images … I can feel the icy bight from here ;)
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That’s why I felt I had to post the photos of the tropical island retreat soon after…
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Just to bring some warmth in :)
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Exactly! :-)
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a breath taking image..wish i was there..take nothing but picture
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That was a year ago already, I see… but it repeats most winters :-)
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