I finally made it to over 200 life birds today, with the 200th being a Bald Eagle and the 201st being a Common Merganser. The pictures weren’t that good today, but I’m having fun expanding my range outside of Central Park.
Pale Male was one a low branch on a tree on Cedar Hill in the late afternoon, before moving about from tree to tree about 150 yards to the south.
Red-Shouldered Hawks are rare visitors to Central Park, so it was a pleasure to see them in the Everglades over my Christmas/New Year’s break while visiting Florida.
The first four photographs are of a juvenile bird, then some of two adults. The last two are of an attack on an egret by a Red-shouldered Hawk at the Shark Valley Visitor’s Center. (I was the only one among about 30 visitors who noticed the attack. I guess people being unaware of nature isn’t only limited to the city!)
Central Park’s Wild Turkey is doing just fine. Wild Turkeys have done well in other Manhattan parks, including Morningside Park and Battery Park, so there is no reason to worry about this bird. Yes, there are risks for the bird, but are they any greater than the risks in suburban or rural area of New York state?
Rob Jett has a wonderful blog entry about Bobby Horvath's rescue of a young bald eagle out on Long Island. Click here to read the article.
Bobby was involved with assisting many of the Red-tails that got into trouble in New York City this summer. If you're looking for some last minute 2008 tax deductions, and you're a NYC Raptor lover, I can think of no better donation then to help Bobby's organization.
If you’d like to make a monetary donation, checks can be made out to “Wildlife in Need of Rescue and Rehabilitation” and sent to:
WINORR, Inc.
202 N. Wyoming Avenue
North Massapequa, NY 11758
I went up to Croton-on-Hudson to look for Bald Eagles today. I didn’t have any luck finding one, but did run into this Red-tailed Hawk who was hunting in a marsh.
