Category: Other Red-tailed Hawks

927 5th Avenue Red-tailed Hawks, Other Red-tailed Hawks, St. John/Columbia Red-tailed Hawks

New Year’s Eve Day

On New Year’s Eve Day, I started hawk watching on the east side. 

Either Pale Male or Lola was atop the “Oreo Building”.  A Cooper’s Hawk moved from east to west through the Ramble, too quickly for me to get a picture.
Walking through the Locust Grove, I saw the park’s only Red Squirrel.
I walked up to 100th Street without seeing any Raptors.  I ran into Robert, and we walked back to towards 86th Street to see if our “new” adult was going to roost.  On the way there, we saw this hawk perched on a building in the low 90’s.
It moved down to tree level, and made a number of loops slowly moving north.  It stopped a few times and we could clearly see that it was an adult by its red tail.
It moved down to tree level, and made a number of loops slowly moving north.  It stopped a few times and we could clearly see that it was an adult by its red tail.

I continued to 86th Street.

Our 86th Street winter visitor had already settled down for the night.
It will be interesting to see if this hawk finds a mate and stays in the spring or moves on once the weather warms up.
Other Red-tailed Hawks

Theodore Roosevelt Park

A mob of crows led me to a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk at 80th and Columbus Avenue.  The tree was in the Margaret Mead Green inside the Theodore Roosevelt Park which surrounds the American Museum of Natural History.

As soon as the crows left, the hawk resumed its meal of what looked to be Rock Pigeon.  It’s a good spot for the youngster.  Being behind Pale Male and Lola’s perch on the Beresford is a lot safer than being in front of it!

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Other Red-tailed Hawks

Could Central Park Support Four Hawk Pairs?

Central Park can be divided up by the east/west roads that cross it. The park starts at 59th and ends at 110th Street.  In between there are major roads crossing the park, at 65th, 72nd, 79th, 86th and 97th.

If we use these major roads as approximate territorial lines for the current nesting Red-tails, the Trump Parc hawks get 59th-72nd, the Fifth Avenue hawks get 72nd to 86th Street. There is an open area between 86th and 97th, and the St. John the Divine hawks use the north end of the park from 97th to 110th. These ranges are very approximate.  (Both the Trump Parc and St. John the Divine hawks also use large areas adjacent to Central Park.)

The unclaimed area between 86th and 97th is where I’ve been seeing the new adult this week.  (This adult has been seen for the last three weeks by an experienced hawk watcher.)

This new hawk spent the late afternoon moving from tree to tree from 86th to 95th.  It made a number of hawk cries as it moved about. This hawk seems to be single, so the cries seemed unusual given that no other hawk seemed to be close by.  Is it just claiming the area for the winter?  (It seems to have claimed the subway vents from 86th to 92nd, which I’m sure have lots of prey in the late afternoon and early mornings.)

Or does it have hopes of attracting a mate and staying put?

So, here’s the big question…

Could Central Park support a fourth resident Red-tailed Hawk pair?

The comment section is open below for opinions! 

Update: There have been a number of excellent comments.  It seems that the issue isn’t can the park support four pairs, but can four pairs share the park when the breeding season begins or is it too small?

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927 5th Avenue Red-tailed Hawks, Other Red-tailed Hawks

Christmas Eve Mystery

On Christmas Eve, we had a mystery.

Around 4:00, Pale Male and Lola are on the Beresford’s southeast tower.
At 4:10, I found this adult Red-tail on a building at 86th and Central Park West.
The bird moves south a few buildings.
Landing on a building at 83rd or 84th.
After a brief stop the hawk flies north, making a number of cries.
I lose sight of the bird, but it looked to be going into the park around 86th.  So, I walked north of the transverse, and two dog walkers pointed to this bird perching in this tree just inside the north 86th Street entrance to the park.
I thought it was Lola, but she slept on the Beresford according to Lincoln Karim.  So, who is this mystery bird? Is it the same hawk I had on the rooftops?  Or the bird that elicited the cries from the rooftop Red-tail?
The Red-tail was in the tree way after dark.  This was a 3 second exposure taken at 5:15 p.m.
927 5th Avenue Red-tailed Hawks, Eagles, Falcons, Hawks and Osprey, Other Birds, Other Red-tailed Hawks

Christmas Bird Count

Central Park had its 107th Annual Christmas Bird Count on Sunday.  (To accommodate various greater New York locations, the counts are held on various days before and after Christmas.)

The Count is a census which records the number of each species found in the entire park.  There are seven
teams, splitting up the park into sections, Northwest, Northeast, Reservoir, Great
Lawn, Ramble, Southwest and Southeast.  The teams all start at the South Pump House, split up to do
their section’s and then meet back at the Arsenal for lunch and the tally.

The mix of birders included all skill levels, from beginners to experts.   So, if you don’t think you’re qualified for the event, don’t worry.  Join in next year, everyone is welcome.

Marie Winn giving a portion of the Ramble team its instructions.
Our first raptor was this Cooper’s Hawk.  It keep our initial numbers down at the feeders in the Ramble, which was free of birds as long as the Cooper’s Hawk was about. 
(Most of my pictures I took were of the raptors we found.  This, however, is not representative of our day.  My photographs of the day clearly reflect my fascination with raptors, not the full range of birds we saw!)
Our second raptor was a Red-tailed Hawk by the area along the Lake called the Oven.
House Finch
Two Mute Swans
This is the same Red-tailed Hawk as seen earlier.  It looks to be Pale Male, but I can’t be certain.  The morning was cold and this bird had puffed up to stay warm making it harder to make an I.D.
Downy Woodpecker
Sleepy Raccoon
Red-tailed Hawk passing overhead.
Red-tailed Hawk just outside the park on a water tower.
One last look before going to lunch.
Lunch before the tally.
New York City Park’s Commissioner, Adrian Benepe.
After the count, I went out to look for hawks in the Great Lawn area.  I found this juvenile Red-tailed Hawk in a tree inside the Diana Ross playground at 81st and Central Park West. 
After about twenty minutes the hawk moved about 20 feet east before moving from tree to tree about 100 feet north.
Then the hawk took off and was chased by an adult hawk up to the top of the Great Lawn.
When I caught up to them, the juvenile hawk was nowhere to be found, but Pale Male was there with a pose that said, “Youngster, this is my territory.”