I’ve been keeping track of the Eastern Screech-Owl pair in the north woods over the last few weeks. They seem to be doing well, although they were harassed by an owl tour the Monday before last. After the tour the owls switched roost trees and tonight a robin helped me me find the red phased male’s new roost.
I had expected the youngster at Riverside Park to have left the area by now, but it has other ideas. It was in the area around the Hippo Playground (its official name) yet again. It was eating a rodent when I arrived, so the video and initial photographs are a little graphic.
Mid-afternoon the fledgling went after a model airplane, but didn’t end up touching it. It did upset the young man who was flying it, however! The fledgling continues to draw crowds. It perched on a few different trees on the Esplanade and over 100 people stopped and watched.
In the very late afternoon, both parents were seen over the Normandy Apartments.
Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are migrating through Central Park. They love Jewelweed flowers or other flowers with nectar. Great places to see them are the Jewelweed patch on the south edge of the Strawberry Fields lawn, “The Oven” — the cove on the Lake, the North Lobe of the Lake or the Conservatory Garden.
While leaving the Wildflower Meadow, I flushed an immature Sharp-shinned Hawk by accident. I was able to watch its wing beats and see its tail shape to confirm it was a Sharp-shinned, rather than a Cooper’s Hawk. It was just another reminder that summer was almost over. The light was already starting to fail, so the pictures aren’t that great.
It was great to see something completely unexpected. Migrations season can be like that. You think you know what to expect and then you’ll see something unusual.
I did get to see one of the Eastern Screech-Owls in their roost tree. They really seem to have settled down again now that most of the tree removal work is done.
The Riverside father was the only hawk seen this afternoon in Riverside Park. Neither youngster (the one born in the park or the visitor from Sunday) was found, although the Riverside fledgling had been seen in the morning.
Since I slept in, here are the pictures of the father. He was east of the Warsaw Ghetto Memorial.
Much to the surprise of those of us hawk watching on late Sunday afternoon, a second, unrelated juvenile was in the park. While this isn’t unusual this time of year, as young hawks go exploring, it certainly was unexpected.
This young hawk is less bulky than the Riverside youngster. It doesn’t have the linebacker like shoulders of the Riverside hawk, has a tail that seems to rest in two groups, and has very different head markings.
But it will certainly change how we observe the hawks in the park. When someone says, I saw the young hawk, we’ll now have to ask, “Which one?”.
