Urban Hawks

December 24, 2009December 21, 2020Owls

Christmas Eve

A search for cavities around the Loch at dusk, yielded an American Woodcock. After dusk we found the male fishing in his normal spot. We looked for the female but couldn’t find her, so we left for the evening.

Luckily, as I was leaving the park, I found both owls on a high tree branch east of the West Drive around 102nd Street copulating. They then both went down to the Pool. I lost track of the male, but the female was very vocal in the trees near the large Willow on the east side of the Pool.

December 22, 2009December 24, 2020Other Birds

Not What I Expected

I had gone up to the North Woods looking for owls, but ended up seeing nocturnal activity I didn’t expect. The Loch had Mallards (displaced from their normal nighttime location of the North Meadow due to the snow), raccoons, and a Great Blue Heron who for some reason hasn’t migrated further south and was hunting after dark.

December 22, 2009December 19, 2020Owls

Stupidity

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!

December 20, 2009December 19, 2020Owls

After The Snow

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.

December 20, 2009December 19, 2020Eagles, Falcons, Hawks and Osprey, Other Birds, Other Red-tailed Hawks

Christmas Bird Count

The annual Christmas Bird Count was held in Central Park. The snow storm had tapered off just in time for a nice morning in the park.

Counting in fresh snow was good exercise, although it kept the count numbers down. I birded the Northwest. Highlights included a female Wood Duck and a Great Blue Heron (most likely the same bird Jack Meyer saw earlier in the week on the Lake). Our group had two raptor species, a Cooper’s Hawk and a pair of Red-tailed Hawks.

An unusual species for the count was a Turkey Vulture, with multiple fly overs the park. Speculation was that heavy snow forced the vultures south. The Riverside Park count even had a Bald Eagle. So the weather was a mixed blessing.

December 18, 2009December 21, 2020Owls

Gone Fishing

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.