The pair of Peregrine Falcons seem to be a regular fixture in a tree on the northwest shore of the Reservoir in Central Park on sunny afternoons. This easy to watch perch is going to make a lot of birders and photographers very happy this winter.
I haven’t been doing much hawk watching the last few weeks, but ran into Pale Male near the Three Bears statue south of the Met on Friday night. He loves to hunt there at dusk before going off to roost. I didn’t see him catch anything, but he was paying close attention to the rodents coming out for the evening.
Tonight, I think I had the Great Horned Owl all to myself. Tough angles to watch it, cold weather and a Monday all worked in my favor. The winds died down before fly out. So, the owl woke up slowly, stretched and then flew to a nearby tree. When it flew again after a few minutes, I quickly lost it in the dark.
It was so nice to see the owl have almost no disturbances from other birds, high winds or people tonight. (I was safely tucked far away and a fence acted as a natural blind.)
The Great Horned Owl was out in the open today in Central Park. As the temperature dropped, the winds picked up and the owl became active as the tree swayed back and forth. The owl went to what had been the roost tree of the Barred Owl after fly out and then disappeared into the night.
Tonight ended up being a special night. Two species of owls Barred Owl and Great Horned Owl flew out within a few hundred yards of each other within about ten minutes.
I watched the Barred Owl first.
Then, I choose to watch the Great Horned Owl, while other watched the Barred Owl fly out.
The Great Horned Owl did its usual “Owl Yoga” before jumping up a branch, and then working its way to a higher branch. It ended up being in a more open branch and flew out to a nearby tree. But then it flew to a tree across a body of water, only to return to a tree near the roost tree. It then went very low and ended up on a lawn after going after what looked to be a squirrel. Then it was up to a small tree, and then high in a large tree. Then it was a wide circle over water and I lost track of the Great Horned Owl.
I packed up my camera and got ready to go home after everyone else had left and something amazing happened. The Great Horned Owl and the Barred had a little fight in the roost tree of the Barred Owl. It was fantastic to watch them fight. It was very much like an American Kestrel and a Red-tailed Hawk fighting. The fight seemed to be just a territorial fight. One that wasn’t intended to injure either party. I’d love on some future night capture at least one image of the interaction.
This wonderful evening was enjoyed by about fifteen folks. I doubt any of this behavior would have been observed if there had been a large walk with a leader used a flashlight and audio playback. No one should be allowed to interfere with an other person’s desire to view natural avian behavior in a public park.
I went up to Riverside Park today and had a very enjoyable time watching a sometimes cooperative and sometimes not so cooperative male Evening Grosbeak. Common further upstate, this is a rare bird for Manhattan, but one I got to see a few weeks ago in Central Park. I love watching any grosbeak eat. They separate the food from the seeds or with grains the chafe.
I’d also like to thank the many birders who came up to me and thanked me for bring up some of the ethical issues we’re having in Manhattan. It made me feel reassured that as a community we can minimize the impact we have on birds, and keep our generous sharing of information and images from being co-opted for the personal gain of others. Birding is a lot of fun, and no one should get in the way of that joy.
