Now that the ice is melting on The Pond the coyote is usually leaving the sanctuary from the southwestern corner. Tonight, a little later than expected, it left and headed north to explore the park for the evening.
Lola has started sitting on her nest on Fifth Avenue off Central Park. What should be good news is tempered by the knowledge that Pale Male and Lola’s have not had a successful nest since 2004.
We should have other nests active soon in Manhattan, including Inwood Hill Park, Highbridge Park, Riverside Park (with a new nest 20 feet to the northwest of last year’s), Morningside Park (the St. John the Divine nest looks active again, Washington Square Park and depending on their mood, 888 Seventh Avenue.
Let’s hope one or two more nests are discovered as well. There are also rumors of possible nests in east Harlem, the CUNY campus, and Fort Tryon.
The pictures below are of the Fifth Avenue nest on Sunday.
I’m starting to see my first set of ear tagged raccoons. This means the rabies vaccination program is underway. I’m still seeing a number of untagged raccoons, but it’s a great start.
Beyond the vaccination program, I would like to see the Parks Department do two things to manage the raccoon population in the park:
I watched Hallett Sanctuary tonight from the path near Cop Cot, hoping to see the coyote exit. I missed the exit, but saw it walk north on the path to the west of the sanctuary and was able to follow it up to Chess and Checkers before losing track of the coyote. The coyote moved so quickly, there wasn't a moment to pull out my camera.
Two days ago, a coyote was seen along the Hudson from 23rd to the 50s. It's possible that this was the Central Park coyote, but it could also be another animal. There is a video of police officers acting like Keystone cops trying to capture this animal online. (The video is not safe for work. The police officers use strong profanity.) Our tax dollars at work!
(The text that accompanies the video described coyotes terrorizing the Columbia campus. They did nothing of the sort. The campus police may have whipped up some hysteria, but by all accounts the coyotes did their best to avoid people.)
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has ultimate authority over controlling wild animals in the city. They work in conjunction with the Parks Department, Animal Care & Control (a non-profit that gets city funding) and the NYC Police Department.
Although, New York City already has lots of coyotes in the Bronx, the NYS DEC doesn't have a a good action plan for how to deal with them. As coyotes enter urban areas, residents need to be educated on how to co-exist with them (keeping pets indoors, controlling trash, not feeding them, etc.) and wildlife managers need to be trained to properly evaluate animals, so resources are only used controlling aggressive or diseased coyotes. (Although in the case of Manhattan, an argument can be made that it is not an appropriate place for large mammals like coyotes or deer.)
Unfortunately, due to the reliance on Animal Care & Control (which is having financial problems, like many non-profits), the under funding of the Parks Departments Urban Park Rangers (whose current mission is largely educational and whose jurisdiction is limited to city parks), and a Police team more used to hostage situations then animal control there is a real void when it comes to wildlife management in New York City's agencies and poor inter-agency coordination.
My hope is that with coyotes getting attention in Manhattan some real discussions will get started in the city this spring.
I was recently asked by a reporter if I thought the coyote should stay in Central Park. I answered that I didn't know for sure. I had heard good arguments supporting each of the various options.
I've collected some questions:
I'm looking forward to being better educated in the weeks to come. Right now, I have to admit, I'm just a naturalist photographer who has good instincts when it comes to tracking a single Central Park coyote.
I received a note last week from Ericka Norton about Washington Square Park. She said “Just reading one of your posts. On Saturday 2/27/10 I observed two Red Tails Mating in Washington Square Park then transporting branches to the top of 1 Fifth Avenue, very top tower east facing side. Something to keep an eye on.”
I went down to Washington Square on Tuesday but didn’t find them.
Today, I kept an eye out for hawks on the One Fifth Avenue tower from my office fifteen blocks north. The pictures are blurry but you can see two hawks. After years of having juvenile wintering hawks, does Washington Square have its first nesting adult pair?
Tonight, I got to follow the coyote outside of the Hallett Sanctuary area. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the coyote leave the southern exit of Hallett, jump onto the path and go up the stairs towards Sixth Avenue. I couldn’t see where the coyote went, but assumed it was up to Cop Cot, so I followed up that path.
In the winter from Cop Cot, you can see a good distance, and I was able to see the coyote south of the playground. It moved around a great deal. It spent most of its time trying to stay away from people. The coyote must enjoy 1 a.m. when the park is closed!
While I was keeping track of it, a woman stopped in the road with a confused look on her face. There was a loose black Lab. which I thought was hers. I said “Is that your dog?” She said “No, but there is a dog without an owner over there.” I said “That’s a coyote.” She said, horrified, “Oh my God, it eats cats and dogs. Do you want me to call 911?” I said “No, the Parks Department already knows it’s here.”
For at least five minutes, I kept asking myself who thinks there are pet cats in Central Park? Did she think the wealthy on Central Park West and Fifth Avenue have their doorman put their cats out at night?
