More Barred Owl

The Barred Owl in Central Park was active in the afternoon before I got to see it.  It caught a chipmunk and had another encounter with a Cooper’s Hawk before I arrived.

I was there at dusk and got to see it move around for about twenty minutes.

20201011BDOW01
20201011BDOW02
20201011BDOW03
20201011BDOW04
20201011BDOW05
20201011BDOW06
20201011BDOW07
20201011BDOW09
20201011BDOW10
20201011BDOW11
20201011BDOW12

Barred Owl

A Barred Owl has been in Central Park for at least two days.  I caught up with it on Friday and Saturday.  On Saturday, there was a bit of a standoff between it and a Cooper’s Hawk.

20201010BDOW01
20201010BDOW02
20201010BDOW03
20201010BDOW04
20201010BDOW05
20201010BDOW06
20201010BDOW07
20201010BDOW08
20201010BDOW09
CI5I5661 copy
20201010BDOW10
20201010BDOW11
20201010BDOW12
20201010BDOW13
20201010BDOW14
20201010BDOW15
20201010BDOW16
20201010BDOW17
20201010BDOW18
20201010BDOW19
20201010BDOW20
20201010BDOW21

944 Fifth Avenue Chimney Swift Roost

While watching Eastern Red Bats and Big Brown Bats on Thursday, I ran into a bird watcher studying Chimney Swifts that roost at 944 Fifth Avenue at 75th.  It turns out the best place to watch them is the “hawk bench” where “regulars” watch Pale Male’s nest in the spring.

The swifts swarm around the roost and then around 6:30 into the video they start to enter the roost.  In a few minutes, they are almost all inside.  Thank goodness for pre-war buildings.

20201003CHSW01
20201003CHSW02
20201003CHSW03

Western Kingbird

Early on Saturday, Ben Cacace found a Swainson’s Hawk on Governors Island.  While the chances of others finding it was slim, it was such a rare bird for Manhattan, lots of very good birders made a trip to the island.  As is bound to happen with so many good birders on the island, Loyan Beausoleil found a Western Kingbird about 150 feet west of Tango Pier, a life bird for me.

20200926WEKI01
20200926WEKI02
20200926WEKI03
20200926WEKI04