Urban Hawks

November 10, 2013December 26, 2020General News

Bloody Skies

Lauren Hodapp at National Geographic sent me an interesting link about a piece they just published on their Daily News Blog, Bloody Skies: The Fight to Reduce Deadly Bird-Plane Collisions by Eric Uhifelder. It’s a great piece that connects well with our NJ30 banded Red-tail Hawk that was in Washington Square ealier this year.

I’m glad that our beloved hawks in Washington Square Park, are leading to a more general understanding of the risks raptors face in their daily lives. Be it secondary poisonings due to rat poisons or collision fatalities. These issues need as much publicity as possible. Thanks for the article Nat Geo!

November 3, 2013December 26, 2020Other Birds

Wood Ducks and a Northern Pintail

Fall brings back to Central Park a wide variety of ducks. Today, there was an unusual duck for the Park, a Northern Pintail, and a group of Wood Ducks among the Mallards on the northern shore of The Pool. The Pintail was trying to sleep and was hard to photograph, but the Wood Ducks were having fun being out in the open.

October 22, 2013December 26, 2020Washington Sq. Red-tailed Hawks

Bedtime At Washington Square

With westerly winds on Tuesday night, both hawks found roosts sheltered from the winds. They were about four blocks apart one east and one west of the park.

October 15, 2013December 26, 2020Washington Sq. Red-tailed Hawks

Washington Square Roost

Tonight, I had the pleasure of watching Rosie and Bobby go to roost on a fire escape a few blocks from the nest. I have visited the park a few times this month and not found the hawks, so it was nice this night to watch them for over an hour. After striking out a few times, it was good to have a home run.

October 13, 2013December 26, 2020927 5th Avenue Red-tailed Hawks, Other Birds

Central Park Sunday

On Sunday, I had a great time in Central Park.

As I walked into the park, Pale Male was in a favorite windows on Fifth Avenue. It was so nice to find him within a minute of walking into the park. Later, I saw another Red-tail circling around 85th and Central Park West.

Then it was off to see a Vesper Sparrow in the Pinetum. It was eating grass seed on a newly seeded lawn. This semi-rare sparrow for Central Park was fairly easy to watch.

The last highlight of the day was a Cape May Warbler high atop an Elm tree. This specific tree has been knocked full of holes by Yellow Bellied Sapsuckers and has been dubbed by some birders the Magic Tree, because it is attracting so many warblers this year.

October 12, 2013December 26, 2020Other Birds

Bryant Park Sora

Bryant Park, a small city park west of the New York Library, is a magnet for migrating birds. This week’s specialty was a Sora, a bird normaly seen in reeds along water shores.