There have been sightings of a new Red-tailed Hawk in Central Park over the last few weeks. Locations for the bird include 95th Street and 86th Street along Fifth Avenue. On Saturday, I photographed what I think is the same bird in the Locust Grove.
Could this be the 1st Year, that spend the winter in the North Woods or a new hawk?
The light was much better on Saturday and I finally got some nice photographs of the Least Sandpipers on The Lake mud flat.
Pale Male was in his favorite spots behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Tuesday evening. He was on the look out for prey stopping in some of favorite hunting perches but didn’t actually do any hunting while I was there.
The Park’s Department has dammed a section of The Lake, to allow for construction in the North Lobe. In doing so, they’ve created a large mud flat that Sandpipers are enjoying. The fall migrations starts first for shorebirds, so we’re seeing Sandpipers now. On Sunday, Ben Cacace saw four Sandpiper species, Solitary, Spotted, Semipalmated and Least.
I photographed three species on Sunday, Solitary, Spotted and Least.
What’s a commercial bred of duck doing in Central Park? For years there have been Pekin /Mallard duck hybrids up by the Pool, who always fool first year birders who try to find them in their guides. But on Sunday, I saw a new pure bred farm duck in the fenced in area south of Turtle Pond.
Is this duck an escapee from a slaughter house or an Easter chick who grew too big for a household?
The 888 fledgling is being encouraged to do some hunting by her parents. But she’s not doing that great at hunting yet. It takes practice and she’ll get the hang of it soon.
The more I learn about Bobby Horvath, the more I admire him. Last Wednesday, he was involved with an Osprey rescue where with the help with a friend, two good samaritans and a ladder borrowed from a local fire house, he freed a young fledgling who had gotten caught in rope and fishing tackle that its parents had used to build the nest. The bird dislocated its hip hanging upside down and thrashing to get free, so Bobby has been nursing it back to health.
