Two Red-tails appeared over the Reservoir this afternoon, soared together and then came back down to perch about 100 yards apart near the Tennis Courts in Central Park. This is the pair that was bringing twigs to 350 Central Park West earlier in the week.
They stayed in the same trees for about twenty minutes, and didn’t like they were going to be moving soon, so I moved on. Let’s hope they stay in the park this spring.
A first-year Red-tailed Hawk was eating a squirrel in the rain on Saturday in the Locust Grove of Central Park. We’ve got lots of young hawks in the park this winter.
You always hear that owls and hawks don’t interact much, but a young Red-tailed Hawk didn’t get the message. It’s been harassing the Barred Owl that’s in Central Park for the past few weeks.
Tonight the Barred Owl must have had enough. The Red-tailed Hawk tried to roost in a tree the Barred Owl used to use during the day, so the Barred Owl flew out early and chased the Red-tail away.
I realized on Saturday that I haven’t spend a real day birding in a long while. I’ve been going after specific birds, but not doing a real walk counting birds for a long time.
So, I birded Randalls Island from end to end on Sunday to see what I could find. Boy, did I feel rusty. Looks like I’m going to be spending lots of time this winter doing long walks…
Photographs are of the Red-tailed Hawk pair and their nest just north of the stadium field, an American Kestrel, Brant, Black-capped Chickadee, and Red-breasted Mergansers.
I haven’t been able to spend much time birding this December. During the week, it’s too dark to bird after work, and the weekend before last, I was away on business.
This last weekend, I only had a few hours on Saturday to go birding. Sunday, I participated in the Christmas Bird count in Central Park, but didn’t have time to photograph much.
So, here are the few photos I got last weekend.
I was taking pictures of the Flatiron Building in New York City, when I saw a hawk fly in and land on what used to be the northern Toy Center building, which is undergoing renovation. It landed and returned south. It was dark, so I couldn’t get a good enough I.D. to figure out if it was one of the Washington Square hawks, the hawk that had been seen hanging around the park, or just a migrating hawk.
