Urban Hawks

May 10, 2009December 24, 2020Riverside Park Red-tailed Hawks

Riverside On Mother’s Day

Last year, Mother’s Day was the day we confirmed the deaths of the three 2008 eyasses. The cause ended up being secondary poisoning by rodenticides. It was on everyone’s mind this Mother’s Day.

This Mother’s Day, we had healthy eyasses and a mother adding greenery to the nest. It must need some freshening up with three babies. It will be interesting to see if she also starts to add a guard rail.

The father flew by a few times while I was there and perched near the nest as I was leaving. The mother was very cooperative and posed for Mother’s Day photos with her young.

May 9, 2009December 24, 2020Riverside Park Red-tailed Hawks

Riverside on Saturday

The Riverside eyasses continue to get bigger. The parents continue to do an excellent job feeding them. We should start to see some wing feathers start to grow in soon.

May 9, 2009December 24, 2020Other Birds

Savannah Sparrow

Along with the Indigo Bunting in the grass on Saturday was a Savannah Sparrow. This is the last of the common Central Park sparrows that has alluded me, so I was happy to finally be able to add it to my Central Park list.

May 9, 2009December 18, 2020Other Birds

Indigo Bunting

On Saturday, three Indigo Bunting’s were sighted at 79th Street, just west of the East Drive. One Indigo Bunting was very cooperative, spending a great deal of time in the grass with a Savannah Sparrow.

It enjoyed being able to watch the Indigo Bunting eat grass seed. It’s lower mandible (lower half of the bill) is twice as wide as the upper mandible and it can husk grass seed without skipping a beat. It was great to have such a long look at the bird.

May 8, 2009December 24, 2020Other Red-tailed Hawks

RFK Bridge and Unisphere Nests

I made a quick trip out to the RFK Bridge and the Unisphere on Friday. The RFK female was feeding young, but they didn’t pop up into sight, so I stuck out again in my attempt to get a glimpse at them.

The female at the Unisphere was sitting on the nest. It was impossible to tell if she was still sitting on eggs or had hatchlings. The nest is recessed into an I beam, which makes it a great hiding place for youngsters.

I’ll be checking back up on these nests in a few weeks.

May 6, 2009December 24, 2020Riverside Park Red-tailed Hawks

It Stopped Raining

After a few days of rain, I was able to get back to the Riverside Park nest. The eyasses are doing much better at standing up and moving around the nest. I can’t tell if they’re taller or just standing straighter. But is much easier to get a look at them.

The father spent most of his time on a branch about 15 feet from the nest. The mother kept the eyasses warm and fed, making two trips across the highway to “take out the trash”. She flew just above the car traffic. The highway is going to make this site nerveracking when the eyasses fledge!