Urban Hawks

December 24, 2006December 20, 2020927 5th Avenue Red-tailed Hawks, Other Red-tailed Hawks

Christmas Eve Mystery

On Christmas Eve, we had a mystery.

Around 4:00, Pale Male and Lola are on the Beresford’s southeast tower.

At 4:10, I found this adult Red-tail on a building at 86th and Central Park West.

After a brief stop the hawk flies north, making a number of cries.

I lose sight of the bird, but it looked to be going into the park around 86th. So, I walked north of the transverse, and two dog walkers pointed to this bird perching in this tree just inside the north 86th Street entrance to the park.

I thought it was Lola, but she slept on the Beresford according to Lincoln Karim. So, who is this mystery bird? Is it the same hawk I had on the rooftops? Or the bird that elicited the cries from the rooftop Red-tail?

The Red-tail was in the tree way after dark. This was a 3 second exposure taken at 5:15 p.m.

December 24, 2006December 20, 2020Other Birds

Common Loon

On Christmas Eve Day, I got to see the Common Loon that’s been on the Reservoir. It’s a new bird for my Central Park list.

I entered the park at 90th and Fifth Avenue and looked for the Loon. I ended up making the entire loop of the Reservoir before finding the bird at 87th about 100 feet from the eastern bank.

The Common Loon has been doing lots of underwater diving, coming up for only about 20 seconds before going under. Then it changed behavior.

The reason for all this behavior surfaced nearby, a Cormorant.

December 23, 2006December 20, 2020Other Red-tailed Hawks

Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk

On Saturday, I discovered this Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk around the Tennis Courts north of the Reservoir.

December 20, 2006December 15, 2020Owls

I was catching up with your blog today, Bruce, and noticed your post from
November speculating that there are no longer any Eastern Screech Owls in
the park.
Never fear: though I don’t know where they live (at the moment), I have
seen one or two ESOs hunting in the familiar areas, on more
than one occasion when I’m out walking my dog after dark. The most recent
sighting was last week, when an ESO did a fly-by as I watched a raccoon
shamble down from a tree for her evening dumpster diving.
So, they’re still around, probably enjoying the peace and quiet that comes
when one’s avian celebrity star has waned a bit.
with best wishes for the holidays (all of them),

Chris

December 17, 2006December 25, 2020927 5th Avenue Red-tailed Hawks, Eagles, Falcons, Hawks and Osprey, Other Birds, Other Red-tailed Hawks

Christmas Bird Count

Central Park had its 107th Annual Christmas Bird Count on Sunday. (To accommodate various greater New York locations, the counts are held on various days before and after Christmas.)

The Count is a census which records the number of each species found in the entire park. There are seven
teams, splitting up the park into sections, Northwest, Northeast, Reservoir, Great
Lawn, Ramble, Southwest and Southeast. The teams all start at the South Pump House, split up to do
their section’s and then meet back at the Arsenal for lunch and the tally.

The mix of birders included all skill levels, from beginners to experts. So, if you don’t think you’re qualified for the event, don’t worry. Join in next year, everyone is welcome.

Marie Winn giving a portion of the Ramble team its instructions.

Our first raptor was this Cooper’s Hawk. It keep our initial numbers down at the feeders in the Ramble, which was free of birds as long as the Cooper’s Hawk was about.
(Most of my pictures I took were of the raptors we found. This, however, is not representative of our day. My photographs of the day clearly reflect my fascination with raptors, not the full range of birds we saw!)

Our second raptor was a Red-tailed Hawk by the area along the Lake called the Oven.

This is the same Red-tailed Hawk as seen earlier. It looks to be Pale Male, but I can’t be certain. The morning was cold and this bird had puffed up to stay warm making it harder to make an I.D.

Red-tailed Hawk just outside the park on a water tower.

New York City Park’s Commissioner, Adrian Benepe.

After the count, I went out to look for hawks in the Great Lawn area. I found this juvenile Red-tailed Hawk in a tree inside the Diana Ross playground at 81st and Central Park West.

After about twenty minutes the hawk moved about 20 feet east before moving from tree to tree about 100 feet north.

Then the hawk took off and was chased by an adult hawk up to the top of the Great Lawn.

When I caught up to them, the juvenile hawk was nowhere to be found, but Pale Male was there with a pose that said, “Youngster, this is my territory.”

December 16, 2006December 25, 2020Other Birds, Other Red-tailed Hawks

103rd Street

I walked through The Rambles, the Great Lawn and the Reservoir without seeing anything too unusual. So, I left Central Park and made my way to 103rd and Amsterdam. The Parakeet nest was empty, so I walked through the Fredrick Douglas Houses, and saw a group of about 100 pigeons circling overhead. A sure sign a raptor was about.

On top of 875 Columbus, I found a Red-tailed Hawk. This building is at the top of a hill and must have great views in all directions.

The hawk stayed for about 30 minutes before flying at least 20 blocks south-southwest. I had been all set to say it was the Cathedral Female, before the long flight south!

After the hawk left, I went to the Monk Parakeet nest. There was a couple watching them with binoculars. They reported that the Monks had just arrived around 4:10. The Parakeets tucked themselves into their roost by 4:25.