Owls

Northern Saw-whet Owl

On Saturday, due to the mobbing of Bluejays and a Tufted Titmouse, I found a very well hidden Northern Saw-whet Owl. These birds are really hard to find and I was thrilled to be able to find one with the help of the mob! It was tucked deeply in the branches of a tree, and could only be seen from one narrow window.

TCC/MCNY Red-tailed Hawks

Cardinal Cooke

Brooding continues at Cardinal Cooke. The male didn’t come to the nest while I was there but did perch on a tree up by the Compost Heap for about twenty minutes, before flying off to chase away another Red-tailed Hawk. There usually isn’t much going on before the eggs hatch, and that’s exactly what I saw.

Other Red-tailed Hawks

New Red-tailed Hawk Pair

I got an email for Ben Cacace yesterday about Red-tailed Hawk activity on the Upper East Side. He had seen hawks bringing twigs to a Con Edison smokestack at their steam plant that takes up the block of 74th to 75th Street between the FDR Drive and York Avenue.

I checked it out as soon as could. The hawks are using the middle ring of the three catwalks around the tower. It looks as though they have only just started to bring materials to the smokestack. The position of the potential nest is just a few degrees counter clockwise from the ladder on the west southwest side of the smokestack.

Sometimes hawks change nest locations at the last minute so this isn’t guaranteed to be the final nest location. But if they do end up using this spot, it will be a bit difficult to watch. The best view will be from the roofs of nearby apartment buildings.

It will also be an interesting summer if they do have a successful nest. John Jay seems like too small a park to bring up fledglings. It wonder if the territory includes part of Roosevelt Island, and if they will bring the fledglings across the river over sometime over the summer?

A. Potential Nest Site
B. Perch
C. Perch
D. John Jay Park

Central Park Coyotes

Eastern Coyote

The Eastern Coyote was found using a cliff along The Lake as a den today. It was in a nicely protected spot away from people and dogs.

The animal slept most of the time, but a protest march, a very bad singer walking his dogs, and a hail storm did disturb the owl. Life in the Big Apple!

After it was dark, and much darker than when our owls fly out the Eastern Coyote quickly left and headed south. It was gone and out of sight within seconds.

Red-tailed Hawk Nest Updates

2021 Manhattan Red-tailed Hawk Nest Update 1

After being able to travel only by foot for most of last year, I look forward to this year’s Red-tailed Hawk nesting season in Manhattan. I’ve seen activity first hand or have gotten reports from fellow hawks watchers. Reports are always appreciated.

Some of the recent news is:

  • There is a new nest on the Cardinal Cooke Health Care Center. Hawks have tried this location before only to have the nest blow off the ledge. This one seems well-built and has a brooding pair, that most likely started sitting on the nest in early March. If they are successful, this may be the first nest to hatch in Manhattan. The nest is on a ledge near the top of the southwestern end of the side of the building facing Fifth Avenue.
  • The pair in Fort Washington was seen getting ready for nesting in late February.
  • St. John the Divine has also seen lots of activity, as has 927 Fifth Avenue (Pale Male/Octavia), Washington Square Park, Tompkins Square Park (Laura Goggin wrote a nice piece about the TSP nest history), and Governors Island.
  • 350 Central Park West is still active. Although the air conditioner was removed and a new one was placed in the window to the right of the nest, the building left the shell of the old AC unit in place and left the nest undisturbed. Kudos to the building managers 350 CPW!
  • In 2019, with only a week to go before the eyasses would have fledged, the building had the hawks removed from the 1802 Third Avenue nest. I don’t know what happened in 2020, but the adults are still in the neighborhood.