Urban Hawks

August 24, 2014December 25, 2020Southern Central Park Red-tailed Hawks

Sheep Meadow Fledgling

I arrived at the Mall to find a crowd around one of the set of wooden benches that form a protective area. Inside was one of the Sheep Meadow fledglings, having just caught a pigeon. The hawks had to spend its time watching everyone who surrounded it eventually flew off to the north.

Struggling to find a good perch to eat the pigeon, it dropped in on to a crowded path. It sat patiently to reclaim its meal, but there were too many people. Eventually a hawk watcher moved the pigeon to a protected lawn, and the fledgling came down and ate the bird.

Many of the area’s fledglings have already started to leave the area, so it was nice to see this youngster in late August.

August 24, 2014December 25, 2020927 5th Avenue Red-tailed Hawks, Other Birds

Red and Green

It’s ironic, given that I’m Red/Green Colorblind, that my two good birds of the day on Saturday were a Red-tailed Hawk and Green Heron.

The Red-tailed Hawk was the same bird I saw Friday. It was again perched on a window railing of 2 East 70th Street.

The Green Heron was in a shallow area of the The Pond north of Gapstow bridge. These mudflat areas are import to wading birds, but they’re constantly being removed by the Central Park Conservancy. The original landscaping of the park had water bodies with clean sculpted edges, which removed the transitional areas of marsh and mud needed by many birds. Luckily, natural erosion does a great job of bringing these mudflats back!

At about 6:56 on the video is a great shot of the Green Heron “licking its lips”.

August 23, 2014December 25, 2020927 5th Avenue Red-tailed Hawks, Southern Central Park Red-tailed Hawks

Two East 70th Street

I’ve been corrected by a number of fellow hawk watchers, who identified this hawk as Pale Male’s mate, Octavia. Wow! I didn’t expect her this far south.

Given the mess at the bottom of the window frame, this is a popular spot!

August 20, 2014December 25, 2020Tompkins Square Red-tailed Hawks

A Glimpse

Just a glipse of a hawk tonight at Tompkins Square Park…

August 20, 2014December 25, 2020Tompkins Square Red-tailed Hawks

Con Edison and a Bat

Tonight, I found an adult Red-tailed Hawk on the towers of the Con Edison plant at Avenue C and 13th Street, who could have been the Adult Female of the Tompkins Square Park pair.

Later in the evening the Adult Male was in Tompkins Square Park, caught and ate two small rodents and then went to the roost tree he’s been using the last week. There he did something I’ve never seen before, he was fascinated by a bat. A Red-tailed adult usually sits fairly still, but tonight this one moved his head all over the place keeping track of the bat as it caught insects in the SW corner of the park.

August 14, 2014December 25, 2020Tompkins Square Red-tailed Hawks

Tompkins Square Park

Tonight, we saw the adult male hawk and a fledgling. The father still comes to the park each evening, but at this point doesn’t need to hunt for any of the fledglings. The youngster, who caught a pigeon (but didn’t eat it) kept us on our toes flying around the park as well as hanging out of fire escapes on building surrounding the park.