Urban Hawks

On Tuesday, the newly arrived Central Park Great Horned Owl was easy to watch in great light. It was nice to watch the fly out, but we quickly lost track of the owl as it went north.

A Northern Saw-whet Owl was seen in Central Park today, along with a Barred Owl and two Great Horned Owls, so our fall bounty of owls continues. The question on everyone’s mind is whether this is the same Saw-whet or have we been seeing multiple birds migrate through the park? The general feeling about the five sightings over the last few weeks, is that we might have only one or two unique Saw-whets.

Project Snowstorm, which tracks Snowy Owls coming south for the winter with GPS collars, shares news that this year will most likely not have an abundance of owls heading our way this year. In this post, The First News From the North they quote a report of very low lemming populations in 2022, leading to a major drop in Snowy Owl nesting activity this past summer.

Last year, Snowy Owls had already been spotted in large numbers up and down the East Coast. Comparing last year’s sightings to this year’s using eBird’s Species Range Maps, confirms the change. The blue markers are from last year and the red markers are from this year. By this time last year, there were already numerous sightings in Massachusetts and Connecticut, but none this year. So, it looks like we’re going to have a quiet winter for Snowy Owls.

Tonight, after failing to find our established Central Park Great Horned Owl, I followed the newcomer. It was a nice evening of stretches, a pellet and then some short flights before flying off to the east. I was able to follow the owl for about 20 minutes and to five perches, which is the best I’ve been able to do so far.

I couldn’t find the roost of the established Central Park owl this evening in the rain, but I found her in one of her favorite trees after it got dark.