Urban Hawks

January 18, 2019December 18, 2020Other Birds

Common Loon

A Common Loon was on the Reservoir this afternoon. It was working a wide range of the Reservoir and was difficult to photograph as it kept far from the shoreline while I was watching it.

January 17, 2019December 27, 2020Other Birds

New York City’s most famous, escaped pet continued to do well on The Pond in Central Park. It’s fame seems to have subsided and for the most part the shoreline of The Pond has thankfully, returned to normal.

January 16, 2019December 27, 2020Other Birds

Great Blue Heron

This afternoon I watched a Great Blue Heron walk on the ice of both The Pool and the Harlem Meer at the northern end of Central Park. Just like humans, the bird occasionally slipped on the ice. A few Great Blue Herons spend the winter in New York City. If I could fly, I would certainly fly to a warmer climate!

January 16, 2019December 27, 2020Eagles, Falcons, Hawks and Osprey

Peregrine Falcons Hunt

On Tuesday afternoon, I got to see the Peregrine Falcon pair perched in their regular spot near the No. 28/Gothic Bridge. The female hunted and caught a pigeon mid-air in under a minute. Peregrine Falcons are deadly hunters! The pigeon took much longer to eat, around 25 minutes.

January 15, 2019December 16, 2020Owls

Great Horned Owl

Tonight was a standard fly out for Central Park’s Great Horned Owl. It was quiet, went to three nearby trees and then was off into the dark.

January 13, 2019December 16, 2020Owls

Great Horned Owl Vocalizes

Tonight, a very respectful small group of owl watchers got to watch the Great Horned Owl cough up a pellet, stretch, fly out, and then perch in an open tree near its roost. The normally quiet owl made a number of calls, which I learned from an other owl watcher, that it had done the night before. There was a response from what we thought was a person making an owl call, but then we heard a more realistic call coming from the northwest. I think we decided that it could have been wishful thinking, but it would be great if there was another owl in the park.

The owl then flew to a different tree, and then made a wonderful dive and ended up on a low branch within the compound of the Delacorte Theater before flying up to the scaffolding over the northern gazebo being repaired at Belvedere Castle. It then flew to a pine west of the Castle before finally flying southeast and out of view. It was a great night of owl watching.