Urban Hawks

Tonight the Snowy Owl arrived at the Compost Heap, but due to the high winds, aborted her landing and when directly to the eastern side of the North Meadow. It was backstop, ground, backstop, backstop, backstop, hunt, eat for a very long time, then some play in a few puddles. Then a puddle in the home team dugout before going out to 1st Base, and then we lost track of her. Similar to when she arrived, she used the infield sand right next to grass.

She took at least an hour to eat the first half of the Brown Rat, but then ate the second half in a few seconds.

She was done hunting and eating her first rat by 9:00 pm. Usually we would have looked for where she went after eating, but it was just too cold with high winds and dropping temperatures, so most of us went home.

Tonight, the Snowy Owl appeared in her regular perch, but stayed in the trees of the Compost Heap for over two hours. I was able to get dinner and return before she left!

She then went to backstop #11 and stayed for about 30 minutes before hunting a Brown Rat almost right in front of us on a park path that leads to the Recreation Center. I heard the rat cry as it was killed.

She stayed on the ground for a few minutes before flying to the infield of ball field 10. I thought there was snow, but it was water on the ground. She took her time eating and finally finished by eating a large piece whole around 11:45. She didn’t do as much cleaning and playing in the grass as she had in the snow, but she did do some before flying off.

The Snowy Owl is very good at adjusting her schedule to avoid people and dogs. She did this tonight by avoiding the Compost Heap area, which has had crowds the last few nights by going directly to the ballfields.

Owl watching takes patience, and an understanding that it might take a few visits to see the owl you’re looking for. It also requires you to take the time to figure out how not to disturb the owl, and can require a commitment of three to four hours for a few nights in a row. Last night, those who were patient, and had learned her habits watched her for over two hours, quietly from a safe distance. She only moved after the Eastern Coyote arrived.

The Manhattan Bird Alert is promoting this owl as an easy thing to go see. On a few nights she has been, but in reality she can be hard to find, and more importantly, it takes effort to watch her without bothering her.

This Snowy Owl is much more difficult to observe than other owls because you can’t see her fly out of roost like you can with a Barred Owl or Great Horned Owl. Watching her isn’t about just showing up at a specific time, at a specific tree.

Bird watching isn’t Pokémon Go. It isn’t about running after something, seeing it, and moving on to the next species. This relatively new Twitter based phenomenon of running after sightings is the equivalent of fast food. Lots of empty calories. One of the great joys of bird watching is observing a species and learning what makes it unique. You can’t do that if you’re rushing around directed by Twitter.

I was sent a sign that is posted near a Snowy Owl location at Jones Beach by Jeff Kraus, created by the North American Nature Photography Association (nanpa.org). It’s recommendations apply to Central Park as well.

It’s possible to observe this owl, while still letting her hunt, eat and live with minimal interference.

I’ve spent almost a full month observing the Central Park Snowy Owl, who arrived on January 27^th. It has been a pleasure to learn more about this bird every few days.  I’ve been able to watch her 13 times, sometime until Midnight when the park closes.

She’s done very well at adapting to the park.  She easily gets prey and has found safe places to eat and perch.

Each night I was with her, I saw something new and learned more about this young female owl.  She’s been a delight to study.

This is what I’ve observed so far:

• Roost location: Unknown Harlem Rooftops about 10 blocks north of the park.
• Known evening territory: 86th to 110th in Central Park, usually between or near the East and West Drives.
• Routine: First being seen at dusk, when the sky is a dark blue.  Usually appearing at the Compost Heap, then moving to the North Meadow backstops and fields, although I think for the first few weeks she went directly to the meadow.  She would often do a loop to the Tennis Courts, the North Gatehouse, and back to the North Meadow.  For about a week, she regularly used a tower of the North Gatehouse and would do flights over the reservoir.  (The use of the Tennis Courts area was more common when people or dogs were on the North Meadow.)
• Perches: Three trees around the Compost Heap (always near the top), all of the backstops of the North Meadow (where she had favorite spots on each backstop), a few trees north of the Reservoir and south of the North Meadow, the western of the two North Gatehouses on the Reservoir using the south west tower exclusively, and various locations on the Tennis Court fences.
• Hunting locations: The Compost Heap and the north west corner of the North Meadow.   She clearly was hunting in other places.  She would leave the North Meadow and come back with a Brown Rat in under five minutes.  Also, she would often go south west of the Tennis Courts returning with a rat, but it was unclear where she went.  She also was seen on the outer fencing of the Tennis Courts facing outwards, so I suspect she was hunting directly at the courts.
• Prey: Brown Rats caught easily.  Usually one, but sometimes two before midnight (with the park closed from midnight to 6 am, there could have be additional feedings we didn’t see.)
• Eating locations: Always on the ground, primarily the eastern half of the North Meadow on ballfield 10, but occasionally on the Tennis Courts and once she was seen on the ice of the frozen Harlem Meer.
• Eating behavior: Although she once ate a rat in once large gulp, she often took her time eating a rat.  It could take her up to an hour to consume a rat, often pulling out and leaving the entrails.
• Post feeding behavior: She would clean her beak in the snow, often taking bites of snow, and then do lots of short hops and waddles.
• Bathing: Once on a balmy 45 degree F night, she took a bath in a puddle in the North Meadow.

I was concerned that posting information about the Snowy Owl, especially before her use of the Compost Heap and the North Meadow was common knowledge would led to the large crowds that were at the North Gatehouse to follow her around and interrupt her hunting and eating.  So, I delayed publishing my posts until now.  At this point the genie is out of the bottle, due to posts on social media, so it no longer makes sense to embargo my posts.

I’ve wanted to document as much of her behavior as possible, so you’ll see that I’ve often times included way too many photographs and video footage.  Feel free to fast forward or skip through the videos.  I just wanted to make sure there was a proper documentation of a once in a century event.  This young owl’s appearance needed more than just a set of checkboxes on eBird.

I would recommend reading my posts in order.  Start with this one, and then navigate forward.