A Rusty Blackbird has been hanging out south of the Azalea Pond and east of the Summer House, in an area called the Swampy Pin Oak. (The tree fell over in a wind storm years ago, but the area is still called the Swampy Pin Oak, which must confuse new birders.) There is a large puddle and the bird works the shoreline for food.
Possibly because of the encounter with the juvenile Red-tailed Hawk, the Barred Owl was tucked into the Hemlock more on January 2nd. It flew out, went down to the garden, and then back to a snag, where it appears to be caching food. It then went over a hill and into the night. A short evening for post-fly out owl watching.
The action of the evening happened before I even had my camera out. Around 4:30 pm a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk flew directly at the roosting Barred Owl. The owl jumped to a lower branch in time to escape getting hit, but the Red-tailed Hawk ended up in the exact spot the owl had been roosting. This may be far game. The Barred Owl had gone after a roosting Red-tailed Hawk and a Cooper’s Hawk a week earlier.
The fly out seemed early, with the owl making a few stops near the roost site before going west. making at least three stops to go after squirrel cavities or squirrels out on branches. I’ve yet to see the owl catch a squirrel. But this post fly out period is perfect to go after them. The squirrels haven’t gone to sleep yet, so owl has a chance to go after them.
The group watching this evening was incredibly respectful of the owl. They were quiet, minimized movements, and calmly followed the owl. The careful actions of the group allowed us to watch this magnificent bird about ten minutes longer than normal.
After not being seen on the 29th, a Central Park Barred Owl returned to its usual roost on Wednesday. They bird vocalized about 15 minutes before fly out, did its normal movement on its perch of about a foot west 10 minutes before fly out, and did lots of stretching before flying off to Charles’ Garden. I went to the ground twice, but didn’t seem to catch anything before flying off for the night. The moon which had been very bright two days ago, had not yet risen, so it was too dark to go look for it.
The Barred Owl went after one set of squirrels before going after another set without success. Late twilight seems to offer this owl an opportunity to go to various squirrel cavities just after fly out. Tonight it was two cavities, one near the roost site and one a few blocks north. The alarm calls of the squirrels only peaked the owls interest in going after them.
It’s interesting to see the variety of behavior after fly out. Sometimes it is a neighborhood patrol to see where raptors have roosted, other items it going to cavities likely to have birds like Tufted Titmouse or squirrels, and other times it hunts things on the ground. I was hoping to learn some behavioral patterns after fly out, but it seems the behavior changes every night.
Tonight the Barred Owl used the time after fly out to do a “neighborhood watch” and investigate two roosting raptors, a Cooper’s Hawk and a Red-tailed Hawk. The juvenile Cooper’s Hawk decided to fly out of its Spruce tree roost, but the Red-tailed Hawk stayed put. After investigating the neighbors, the owl went back to its normal woods. Sadly, these encounters were impossible to photograph.
