Capping off what has been a wonderful fall birding season for me was a male Evening Grosbeak, found by Terence Zahner. The bird was just south of the Green Bench in the north of Central Park when I arrived. Nice to have a life bird in December!
I wanted to watch an owl by myself tonight and I got my wish. Except for two small groups of owl watchers who stayed for only a few minutes, I had the Sheep Meadow owl all to myself tonight. It was high up in one of the Red Oaks and flew around the roost tree and adjacent trees to about five different perches before I lost it. This was one of four (maybe five) Barred Owls located in the park today.
The neighbors haven’t been very welcoming to the Great Horned Owl. This morning two Red-tailed Hawks forced it to find a new roost and while I visited it in the afternoon it was mobbed by crows. Hopefully, it will stay and have an easier time in coming days.
On Saturday, we had the first Great Horned Owl of the season in Central Park. We’ve had one consistently over the last few fall/winters, so it was great news that one had arrived. We’re having a great fall with Long-eared, Northern Saw-whet, and Barred Owls already having been seen. Earlier this spring, we also had a Barn and Eastern Screech Owl in the park making 2018 a great year for Central Park owls.
The Great Horned Owl was in the Ramble and flew off on a long flight towards the northeastern shore of the lake. This has been a common habit of previous Great Horned Owls. I wonder if the noisy call of the ducks going to sleep on the shore of the lake, sounds like a dinner bell to the owl?
Central Park has had three Barred Owls this week. Two have been in fairly consistent locations. However, one has been moving around since it arrived, preferring deciduous trees but leaving a roost when the tree loses its leaves. This has had the same owl changing trees by about 100 to 300 yards every few days. So, the question about this owl, who has now been seen on two nights in a conifer this week, the same owl that had been preferring deciduous trees earlier in the fall? Or a new owl?
A small group is respectfully watching one of the Barred Owl’s fly outs in Central Park. They’re doing a great job of spotting the owl after it leaves its roost area. On Friday night the owl went to the small island in Turtle Pond, north of Belvedere Castle. I’m happy to have company watching the owl now, since some of the newcomers have great night vision. I was able to stay with the owl to 5: 30 p.m. It gave a full “Who cooks for you” call before flying off into the dark.
