Urban Hawks

November 22, 2014December 25, 2020Other Birds

Cassin’s Kingbird at Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn

Last Saturday, Kai Sheffield found a Cassin’s Kingbird out at Floyd Bennett Field. Scores of birders tried to find it last Sunday. So, it was great to see a tweet from Rob Jett that the bird had been refound in the Community Gardens of Floyd Bennett Field this Saturday.

When I got out to Floyd Bennett Field there were about 35 birders looking for the bird. Almost all of them got great view of the rare bird found normaly in the southwest of the United States.

November 22, 2014December 24, 2020Washington Sq. Red-tailed Hawks

Late Afternoon Hunting, Eating and Roosting

This time of year, it’s common to see one of the adults hunting at dusk, eat their bedtime snack and then go of to roost. Tonight this happened just as expected.

The rats come out just before dusk making hunting easy for the Red-tailed Hawk. Unfortunately, local squirrel lovers grossly overfeed the squirrels in this area and end up supporting a large rat colony.

November 8, 2014December 16, 2020Northwest Central Park Hawks, Washington Sq. Red-tailed Hawks

Uptown and Downtown

I’ve been spending time recently doing some old fashioned bird watching without a camera and having a great time. But I thought it would be fun to look for hawks on Saturday afternoon. I only found two, one on El Dorado’s south tower on Central Park West and one in Washington Square Park.

October 28, 2014December 24, 2020Tompkins Square Red-tailed Hawks

Tompkins Square Couple

As the days get shorter, our local hawks are spending more time closer to home and more time together. Tonight both of the Tompkins Square Red-tailed Hawks were in nearby trees for about a half hour.

(Once daylight saving time ends, I’ll be unable to go hawk watching after work. So this is most likely my last weekday report until Spring.)

October 26, 2014December 24, 2020927 5th Avenue Red-tailed Hawks

Beresford Hawks on Saturday and Sunday

On Saturday afternoon, two hawks spent at least an hour circling around Central Park West north of 80th Street. Then one landed on the roof of the Beresford Apartments’ SE Tower, while the other landed on the SW Tower. It wasn’t clear if it was Octavia and Pale Male or another pair of hawks. They certainly were not in the standard perches.

However, on Sunday afternoon, it was clear Pale Male was in the oval window of the SE Tower, and Octavia was perched just below the oval window of the NE Tower.

Had I just misidentified the hawks on Saturday, or was Pale Male protecting the building after interlopers landed on the building the day before?

October 13, 2014December 24, 2020927 5th Avenue Red-tailed Hawks

Octavia

I got a very, very brief look at Octavia at the base of Cedar Hill on Sunday. I’ve been having trouble figuring out her habits, so it was nice to find her.