Snowy Owls continue to be abundent in the outer boroughs of New York City.  Today, I took advantage of the warm weather to look for them yet again.  I saw three today.

Today was the first day I saw owls being harrased by photographs.  The grasslands of the park I was visiting is off limits to all visitors.  Unfortunetly, two photographers violated these rules.  The owls weren’t hurt in any way, but both were moved about by the photographers. 

If you go looking for Snowy Owls, and are visiting a park for the first time, please take the time to visit  the park’s ranger station or nature center.  Most of the grasslands and beaches have strict rules about where you can walk, but also don’t have good signage.  Vandals, storms and budget cuts have removed many of the warning signage in the New York area.  Rather than assume there are no rules, search them out.  Every park has them!

I was out birding on Jones Beach, but swung by Brooklyn on the way home to get another glimpse of a Snowy Owl.  When I arrived a Snowy was on a shipping container, and moved to a sign, and then back to a field.  The movement wasn’t because of people bothering the owl, but because a Northern Harrier was about. While I was there it started to snow, so I got some interesting footage.

I went back to Brooklyn on Saturday to look for the Snowy Owls.  (There is actually more than one.)  A Snowy Owl was about 35 yards from where I had seen one last weekend in Brooklyn.  Nice to get additional looks at it.  It flew out of the grass around the same time as last week and into the same general direction.

I would encourage everyone to look at some of the discussions on the New York State Birding listserver.   Simple questions about the ethics of watching Snowy Owls and the reason they’re down south has raised more questions than answers.  The discussion however is great.  There have been some great tips about how to educate other birders watchers and photographers in a constructive way, in addition to some references to some current scientific literature.

A number of Snowy Owls are in the New York Area this Thaksgiving weekend.  I caught up with one in Brooklyn on Sunday afternoon. 

(Care needs to be given to not stress these owls.  If you’re not familiar with the etiquette around how to observe owls, please take some time to research how to behave around them before you go looking for them.)

At least one Northern Saw-whet Owl continues to be seen in Central Park.  It’s a joy to watch, even when it tries it’s best to hide from bird watchers!

As winter ends, it looks as though many Red-tailed Hawk pairs in Manhattan have started preparing for brooding.  Nests have been rebuilt and relocated slightly in Inwood Hill Park and Highbridge Parks, and other nests have been tidied up.

As of today, I know the following:

• Inwood Hill has a new nest which will be easy to watch and is further away from the owls in the park.
• Highbridge Park also has a new nest.  The old one was destroyed during Sandy.
• The 175th and Fort Washington pair have been seen this winter, but I don’t know where they are nesting this year.
• CUNY’s uptown campus has activity according to The Origin of Species blog.
• The Saint John’s nest seems to have lost its male, and it’s unclear just yet how things are developing.
• The Randalls Island nest seems to be in good shape.
• There is a pair trying to establish themselves in the ’90s of Central Park.
• Pale Male and his mate look to be all set for Spring.
• The Central Park South pair with a nest they built last year on the Crown Building and a secondary nest on The Plaza Hotel, look to be all set for Spring.
• The Washington Square Park nest is ready to go, but it looks like it might be without a webcam this year.

Let me know if you have additional news.