Manhattan has a nesting pair of Great Horned Owls with two owlets this year in Inwood Hill Park. This is wonderful news. The nest is close by a Red-tailed Hawk nest and the two species are managing to live closely together.
(These photographs were taken on April 6th. I wanted to wait until the owlets had fledged before posting these photographs. Owls can attract huge crowds, this family deserved some peace and quiet.)
I took advantage of the warm weather to visit Inwood Hill Park at the northern tip of Manhattan. Both Red-tailed Hawks visited the nest, but they don’t appear to have started nesting just yet. They copulated while I was there.
A Great Horned Owl was roosting near the Red-tailed Hawk nest. It will be interesting to see how these birds manage to coexist.
A two hour drive from New York City is the Shawangunk Grasslands NWR, an old airstrip that is now a National Wildlife Refuge. This time of year it is home to a number of Short-Eared Owls that appear about an hour before sunset.
Tonight, I saw six. It was a life bird for me!
(The refuge is currently closed to pedestrians, as they are reseeding. The pictures are a little blurry due to the distance they were taken from.)
A Barred Owl was found in the Ramble today, most likely the same owl seen the Friday before last. It was fairly active before fly out, flying from branch to branch in a small area. After dark, it moved to trees closer to a large lawn. I was able to track it for about 45 minutes after fly out.
I was hoping to hear a few calls, but the owl was absolutely quiet.
The North Woods Eastern Screech-Owl seems to have settled down and is staying in her newly found cavity. She was very quiet tonight only calling once.
Yet another roosting location for the Eastern-Screech Owl. This one seems “just right”, although a few robins might disagree by the sound of them.
