I finally got to see the Barred Owl that has been hanging about the Ramble for the last week this morning. It was high in the Tupelo Tree of the Tupelo Meadow. The tree has just started to lose its leaves making it fairly easy to spot the owl. Another Barred Owl was spotted in the Ravine later in the day, so I suspect we’ll have more owl sightings in the next week.
There was a Barred Owl in The Ramble of Central Park this morning. When I arrived in the park this afternoon, after hearing Blue Jay cries, I found an owl. I though it was the Barred Owl at first, but then it looked like a Great Horned Owl, which I tweeted out using the #birdcp hashtag. It was tucked in most of time, far away and obscured by leaves with an oval face and plump body. But perched birds can be deceiving. Lots of folks saw it, but after two hours Ryan Zucker came by and said, “I think that’s a Long-eared Owl”. When I got home, I discovered one of the youngest birders in the park got it right. It was a Long-eared Owl. I’ve never seen one so early and never in a deciduous tree in Central Park. Thanks for the correction Ryan.
Making the wrong I.D. is a big faux pas in birding, so I’ve been trying to figure out how I got it wrong. I think I was biased by my previous Long-eared sightings, which where in snowy conditions, mid-winter. Plus the bird was obscured and very, very high in the tree. I looked up the frequency map on eBirds for New York County and Long-eared Owls, and while it showed mostly winter sightings, there are plenty of fall and spring sightings. I’ll need to give up my winter bias, and concentrate on chest stripping and color going forward!
The Upper West Side hawks, were on both the San Remo and the Beresford Apartments towers this afternoon. There were high gusts and both spots provided some shelter from the wind.
On Wednesday evening a hawk was on the NE flagpole of the Plaza Hotel. I’ve been seeing this hawk a great deal recently, but other than seeing it around The Pond I don’t know much about it.
I first spotted Octavia (Pale Male’s mate) on top of one of Fifth Avenue’s ugliest buildings this afternoon, 1001 Fifth Avenue, “designed” if you can call it that, by the firm of Johnson/Burgee. She had the good taste to move to the Met’s SE corner, and then the NE corner before I lost her as she flew around 86th Street and the East Drive at dusk. I think she might have a roost somewhere a few blocks north of the Met.
A Mandarin Duck has been on The Pond for a few days in Central Park. It’s unclear from where it’s escaped, but it could be from the Central Park Zoo. It’s banded and looks healthy. The last time I can remember one in the park was in 2009 on Turtle Pond.
