Sunday was as warm as Saturday, making it enjoyable to walk around Central Park. I started up north, and saw a Brown Trasher by the Pool, my 57th bird in Manhattan for the year.
While in the Conservancy Garden, I saw a Red-tail perch on the roofs of the Cardinal Cooke Heath Care Center and El Museo del Barrio.
Then after a walk to the middle of the park, I had two Long-eared Owls. A nice relaxing afternoon on Superbowl Sunday.
Finally a warm day, in the high 40’s to watch birds in Central Park. The cold was getting a bit old. My day started with a Cooper’s Hawk, and then some fun song birds at the feeders in the Ramble. It ended with two Long-eared Owls, one of which had an adventure with a gray squirrel and coughed up a pellet.
Snowy Owls continue in the area. This afternoon, I got to photograph one in the snow. White on White, what a delight to photograph.
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.
