Urban Hawks

January 18, 2009December 24, 2020Extralimital, Other Birds

Brown Pelicans

St. John has a large population of Brown Pelicans, who fish close to the beaches. They’re fun to watch dive bombing for fish.

January 18, 2009December 24, 2020Extralimital, Other Birds

I spent an extended Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend on St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands. While there I did some birding. A new life bird for me was the Magnificent Frigatebird. The males are all black, the females have a white chest, and the immature birds have a white head and chest.

January 11, 2009December 24, 2020927 5th Avenue Red-tailed Hawks, Eagles, Falcons, Hawks and Osprey, Other Red-tailed Hawks

Central Park Hawks After The Snow

On Sunday, I spent the late afternoon looking for Long-eared Owls without success. But I did run into a few hawks.

On the Beresford Apartments, was Pale Male in the oval window, and Lola soaking up the sun on a south facing ledge.

This young hawk was in the Ramble making its way between the official and the not so official bird feeders looking for customers to eat.

This Sharp-shinned Hawk, with prey in talons, was being chased by a Red-tailed Hawk near 69th Street and the West Drive. The Sharp-shinned Hawk evaded the Red-tail and got away with its prey. Everything happened too fast for me to capture the action, but it reminded me that winter is the time to see lots of raptors in New York City.

January 10, 2009December 21, 2020Owls

Long-eared Owl in a Snow Storm

A Long-eared Owl ended up being found in a very unlikely place in Central Park on Saturday, during a snow storm. The bird was in a small tree at the edge of the Reservoir. A kind Central Park birder, who’s name is unfortunately just on the tip of my tongue, walked 10 blocks in the storm to show me the bird! Thank you.

This season has had a number of Long-eared Owls, who only seem to be staying for a day or two. Let’s hope one or two of them end up staying a little while longer this winter.

January 8, 2009December 25, 2020Extralimital, Other Birds

White Ibis Worm Wrestling

While down in the Everglades, I had a nice view of two White Ibises eating for about half an hour. I never realized what a hard time an Ibis would have eating a long worm. It was a struggle, as the worm did all it could not to be dinner.