Urban Hawks

February 7, 2009December 28, 2020Eagles, Falcons, Hawks and Osprey, Extralimital

Bald Eagles

During the winter, about an hour north of Manhattan on the Hudson River, you can find Bald Eagles. On Saturday, Teatown’s Hudson River Eaglefest 2009 was held along the river. I drove up with James O’Brien and Ben Cacace and we ended up seeing over sixty eagles! (We might have actually seen more, but we didn’t count the eagles we saw on the west side of the river to avoid double counting.)

We birded both sides of the river from Croton-on-Hudson on the east bank, up to George’s Island and Bear Mountain and down as far as Haverstraw on the west bank.

The early morning view from George’s Island Park.

The view across the river from George’s Island.

There was a nice mix of adult and juvenile eagles on the river.

If you count closely, you’ll see ten eagles out on the river. This photo was taken about two miles south of Bear Mountain Bridge on the east side of the river.

Eagles were not the only ones riding the ice, the Greater Cormorants were too.

February 6, 2009December 24, 2020Eagles, Falcons, Hawks and Osprey

Cooper’s Hawk Roosts In The Same Tree For Over A Month

The Cooper’s Hawk that has been consistantly roosting in one tree on a hill by the Lake, was there again tonight. When I arrived it was chasing off another Cooper’s Hawk from the area, but soon settled in for the night. This makes it over a month that the bird has used the same tree to roost.

February 1, 2009December 18, 2020Riverside Park Red-tailed Hawks

Riverside Hawks

I haven’t been over to lower Riverside Park since last Spring. I was there in the late afternoon on Sunday and saw both the male and female.

The male spent most of his time on top of two tall buildings, either a popular perch on a water tower at around 80th or the south tower of the Normandy apartment building. His eye color has darkened since last year, as was to be expected.

The female of the pair, whose broken beak looks to be recovering nicely, spent most of the afternoon moving from street light to street light over the West Side Drive. She landed in a few trees, but seemed to enjoy the views and warm sunlight offered by the street lights.

I didn’t see either hawk hunting or feeding while I was observing them. Nor did I find any sign of a new nest. I’d expect we’ll find the nest in the next few weeks. The hawks hormones will be kicking into overdrive by the end of the month.

As I was on my way home, I saw the outline of one of them roosting in a tree south of 79th Street in the park area between the highway and Riverside Drive.

Let’s hope this year goes better for this pair, after the tragic poisoning of their offspring in 2008. This pair will certainly have learned from last year. I suspect they’ll find a more stable place to establish their new nest.

However, second generation rodenticides are still being used by buildings bordering Riverside Drive. It’s too bad that these birds seem to be better at learning from their experiences than the humans in their territory.

January 31, 2009December 24, 2020927 5th Avenue Red-tailed Hawks