Urban Hawks

February 12, 2011December 17, 2020Owls

More Long-eared Owls

A group of four owls was found rousting in an Austrian Pine on Cherry Hill on Saturday morning. When I arrived in the afternoon, only three were visible.

A squirrel decided to harass the owls, soon after I arrived. It broke off small branches with pine needles and dropped them on the owls. Eventually, the squirrel got two owls to move to other trees. One to a tree in the open, and one to another nearby pine tree.

News of these owls has spread, so I’m posting these pictures. If you go see these owls, remember that they are day sleepers with very good hearing. Let them get some shut eye, if you visit them.

February 11, 2011December 19, 2020Other Birds

After Darkness Falls

I was looking for owls Friday night in the north of Central Park. The hunt was unsuccessful but I did get to watch the activity that occurs after darkness falls.

Around the Loch and The Pool this means Raccoons and Rats coming out for the night, and ducks figuring out where to sleep for the night.

What surprised me this evening was a Great Blue Heron that flew in fifteen minutes after dark. While each winter, a sighting of a Great Blue Heron in The Loch, especially when most surounding water bodies are frozen isn’t unusual, it always surprises me.

February 7, 2011December 25, 2020927 5th Avenue Red-tailed Hawks

Pale Male in the Rain

I went looking for Pale Male’s second “girlfriend” of the winter, but missed her each afternoon this weekend. My understanding is she’s much easier to find in the morning!

Here are some shots of Pale Male in the rain on Saturday.

February 4, 2011December 21, 2020Owls

Long-eared Owl

Long-eared Owls (LEO) are a special treat in Central Park. They sometimes are found during spring and fall migration, but usually they arrive mid-winter for a few weeks when there is dense snow further north.

This Long-eared Owl was very accommodating. It was in a section of a tree without too many branches near its perch. It spent about a week in the same tree and has now moved on.

As we curse all of the recent snow, remember that it can bring Long-eared Owls to Central Park, Bald Eagles to Fort Tryon and Inwood Hill parks (there have been sightings this week), and Hawks to various backyards and fire escapes thought the city.

(These pictures are from January 27th. I delayed posting them to protect the Long-eared Owl. It was in a very public place, and would have been harassed if news about its location had been made public.)

January 23, 2011December 25, 2020927 5th Avenue Red-tailed Hawks

Pale Male On Sunday

A single picture of Pale Male from Sunday. The cold weather made it hard to hawk watch!

January 18, 2011927 5th Avenue Red-tailed Hawks

Remembering Lola

I started blogging about birds of prey five years ago out of frustration over what at the time I called the "cult of Pale Male". While New York had a thriving breeding American Kestrel, Peregrine Falcon and Red-tailed Hawk population, all we heard in the media was about two Red-tailed Hawks on the east side, Pale Male and Lola.

They were a great pair, but their notoriety and good luck, caused the public to overlook the issues birds of prey have in the city: poisoned food sources, limited green space, building collisions, a shortage of safe nest locations, frounce (a disease primarily caught from eating infected pigeons) and a shortage of volunteer veterinarians, rehabilitators and facilities.

As we mourn Lola's disappearance, lets be careful not to zoom in on a few blocks of New York's wealthiest neighborhood but keep things in perspective and remember that we have a city that has once again become a home for many breeding birds of prey and is unprepared for their return.

Ruminating about what happened to Lola or arguing about a name for Pale Male's new mate isn't going to help our city's birds.

If you want to remember Lola, assist the organizations that support birds in New York City. These include a number of excellent volunteer veterinarians, rehabilitators, the NYC Parks Department and New York City Audubon. All of these resources need volunteers and donations. So, give your time and/or money!

I'm especially fond of two organizations. New York City Audubon and Wildlife in Need of Rescue and Rehabilitation.

New York City Audubon has been instrumental over the last few years in building a strong network of hawk watchers, park employees and rehabilitators. They have been routing calls to a list server that has quickly dispatched volunteers to pick up injured birds of prey. In the last few weeks there have been a few great rescues by the group including two young Red-tailed Hawks. One stuck in an air shaft on the Lower East Side and one trapped in the New York Times atrium.

On a broader front, New York City Aububon has been fighting to include "bird safety guidelines" in the standards for green buildings. Many of the new high-tech "green" buildings end up being bird killers, due their inappropriate use of glass windows and lighting.

Information about New York City Audubon membership registration, volunteer opportunities and how to make donations can be found on their website, www.nycaudubon.org.

Wildlife in Need of Rescue and Rehabilitation is my other favorite organization. Run as a labor of love, by Cathy and Bobby Horvath and their supporters, this Long Island couple nurses back to life dozens of birds and other animals each year.

If you’d like to make a monetary donation, checks can be made out to “Wildlife in Need of Rescue and Rehabilitation” and sent to:

WINORR, Inc.
202 N. Wyoming Avenue
North Massapequa, NY 11578