I got an email on Saturday, that two hawks had been found dead at Astoria Park. Excellent follow up by the Urban Park Rangers in Queens discovered two dead chickens rather than hawks. Dead chickens have been a problem in the park this summer, most likely from Santería animal sacrifices. While I’m relieved that the hawks are in good health, I do feel some sadness about the chickens.
Here are pictures of the Astoria hawks. Two from last weekend and three from this Sunday.
Both the East and the West Ponds out at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge were very high after the rain on Saturday. A Red-necked Phalarope was at the south end of the East Pond. It was a life bird for me.
I missed by a half hour, two Bald Eagles, who had flown over the pond before I arrived. Win some, lose some!
The juvenile Red-tailed Hawk, who spends its time in the North Woods and the Great Hill (and most likely is one of the St. John the Divine offspring) was hunting in The Loch on Saturday afternoon.
It has shocked me that no one seems to be interested in this youngster. Lots of people complain about how much they miss watching the offspring of Pale Male and Lola. But, here’s a wonderful juvenile bird only twenty five blocks north of Pale Male and Lola’s nest and no one is watching it.
The most common warbler, I was missing from my Central Park list was a Cape May Warbler. Luckily, there were a number of them on Saturday near Sparrow Rock (or is it Sparrow Ridge?, the area west of the Locust Grove and east of Tanner’s Spring)
In any case, this just leaves me with a Blackburnian, Cerulean, Golden-winged, Kentucky and Worm-eating missing from my list. (I’ve seen a Worm-eating Warbler about five times, but have never captured a photograph.)
A Downy Woodpecker goes after Crab Apples!
The fall migration is in full swing in Central Park and on Friday I finally got to see a Mourning Warbler. These shy birds require of lots of patience to see.
