The Central Park Barred Owl has been having a tough week. Blue Jays, American Robins, and Red-tailed Hawks all would like to see the owl leave the park. It is either being forced out of the Hemlock Tree or just being found in a nearby tree. It will be interesting to see how long the Barred Owl continues to stay.
Governors Island is open for the season and the Red-tailed Hawk nest has hatched. I saw two feedings. They eyasses are still too small to see, but we should see them in a week or so. This is the second year for the nest. Last year due to COVID-19 most of us missed watching the activity on the nest, so this year will be special for may of us. Also seen on the island were the sheep that have been introduced to help control the invasive plants around the hammocks.
I caught up with the Tompkins Square Park family and enjoyed watching the two eyasses on the nest. The parents are spending more time off of the nest as the young ones are getting bigger. There was also a visit by a House Wren to the nest!
The nest still doesn’t look like it has hatched. I spent two hours waiting for some action, and just got what looked like the rolling of the eggs.
It’s looking more likely each day that there is only one eyass on the Terence Cardinal Cooke. It would be interesting to know what happened, but I don’t think we’ll ever know for sure. I don’t know how many eggs were laid, or how many hatched.
One thing we have observed is that the mother often has wet feathers when she gets up off the nest. There is a possibility that there is a drainage problem under the nest. Hopefully, as the pair add to the nest next winter, it becomes higher and drier.
Some updates:
