Urban Hawks

Dr. Robert DeCandido lead another “owl tour” tonight.  He spend 25 minutes loudly playing a tape of Eastern Screech-Owl calls.  The crickets heard on the tape were amusing with 12 inches of snow on the ground.

As usual, DeCandido played the tape without interruption, fifteen minutes before the owl’s fly out time.  He managed to attract a Red-tailed Hawk with his tape.  Luckily the owls must have learned to ignore the tape, or they may have become dinner tonight.

It’s really too bad Dr. Decandido is so heavy handed with these owls.  If he had just been willing to wait until they started calling naturally he would have been able to treat his tour to some wonderful sights.

But instead he made owl watching impossible tonight.  Decandido’s doctorate is in botany.  Why can’t he just go back to plants!

Tonight, no cavities were found and we only saw the male.  He called along the wood chip path and made his way north along the east side of the Loch. 

No sign of the female.  This didn’t concern me.  In past years, one or two of the owls has flown out late after a snow storm.

I couldn’t find either owl before fly out tonight.  Although frustrating, I’m happy that they’ve both found more private places to roost.  I had been in the teens the night before, so it’s possible that they roosted together.

After walking all around the Loch, I found the female near Glen Span Arch.  Then I found the male as well.  He was fishing for her, while she called to him. He’s gotten better at fishing.  He brought her two treats within about fifteen minutes.

He went off into the woods, but she stayed near the stream for another half hour.  After having been feed, I suspect she was in no rush to fly off.

The two blurry pictures in the set below are the male handing off his treats to the female.

A Great Horned Owl was in Central Park on Monday.  It was unclear if it was a returning guest from a few weeks ago or a new bird.  I found it around 6:30 p.m. and was able to keep track of it for over an hour.  It flew to various trees along the Lake’s shoreline from the Indian Caves to the Oven.   The owl seemed to go wherever there were groups of quacking ducks.

(This post was delayed for a few days to protect the Great Horned Owl.  A few weeks ago, the fly outs turned into nightly circuses, disturbing the previous Great Horned Owl.   So, it seemed appropriate to delay the news for the comfort of the bird.  However, one day in Central Park seemed to be enough for this individual.  It has not been seen since Monday.)

I found the female of the pair in the North Woods in a cavity even worse than her previous spot.  A hollow tree stump that is 4 feet tall.  She was sitting out in the open when I arrived.  I hope she finds a better spot soon.

After fly out she went down to a small branch near the stream that exits from the Pool between Glen Span Arch and a rustic bridge.  We heard the male but didn’t see him.  She stayed in the area for about fifteen minutes before giving us the slip.