The Great Horned Owl continues roosting in Central Park. 

The routine continues.  The day sleeping owl waking up throughout the day to deal with noisy humans, helicopters, the carts used by the gardeners, the occasional Red-tailed Hawk or Blue Jay.  At approximately 4:30 p.m. the owl wakes up and becomes active.  It stretches and becomes very observant.  Then around 5:00 p.m. we have fly out.

Today, I think due to a rather unruly and noisy crowd watching the fly out, the owl only stayed near its roost for only a few minutes after fly out.  (A rare bird in Central Park, brings out old friends who all want to say hello, which unfortunately puts stress on the rarity we’re watching.)

The owl then flew quite far north.  This has happened on other nights, as well.  Where is this owl going?  Is it going up north to the Reservoir or the North Meadow? And what is it eating?

Hopefully an owl pellet will be found to help us discover the answer!

Watching the Great Horned Owl after fly out takes being a little brave, as there are something a little creepy about being the Ramble after dark.  But the reward is watching an owl being active and mobile.  Tonight the owl let us watch for about half an hour before giving us the slip.

The Great Horned Owl continues to stay in Central Park.  Tonight, we could keep track of it for an hour after fly out.  The owl took special interest in a feral cat, who might just become dinner some night!

The later photographs taken after the fly out at ISO 12,800 with exposures of 1/2 to 2 seconds.

The Great Horned Owl in Central Park continues to stick around. The owl delighted us with some owl yoga just before fly out.

Over the last ten days, there have been three Great Horned Owl sightings in Central Park, including one today.  Beth Bergman has photographs of the two previous sightings, Friday the 6th and Wednesday the 11th on her blog.

It’s generally rare for the park to have a Great Horned Owl, so it was very interesting when those who had seen the Great Horned Owl on previous days, thought today’s owl might be a different bird than that seen earlier!  It’s quite possible since we’re in a peak migration period for owls.

Looking at Beth’s photographs however, I could lean either way. Is it just one bird or more than one?

I’ve been keeping track of the Eastern Screech-Owl pair in the north woods over the last few weeks.  They seem to be doing well, although they were harassed by an owl tour the Monday before last.  After the tour the owls switched roost trees and tonight a robin helped me me find the red phased male’s new roost.