Other Birds

944 Fifth Avenue Chimney Swift Roost

I was afraid that a new pipe on top of the Chimney Swift chimney on 944 Fifth Avenue meant the roost was sealed off and made the mistake of not waiting long enough to confirm that the roost was inactive last week. Luckily, Ben Cacace corrected me. At his suggestion, I made a video at 120 frames/second so the Chimney Swifts could be counted going to roost.

The schedule of the evening was:

  • 6:44 pm, Sunset
  • 6:45 pm, Chimney Swifts start circling the roost
  • 6:58 pm, First Chimney Swift enters the roost
  • 7:10 pm, Last Chimney Swift enters the roost

The swifts entered the chimney slowly, but then had one major burst around 7:01 pm followed by a much smaller burst a few minutes later.

VideoTimeCountRunning Total
0:006:58 PM22
0:016:58 PM1618
0:026:58 PM018
0:036:58 PM220
0:046:59 PM020
0:056:59 PM121
0:066:59 PM021
0:076:59 PM021
0:087:00 PM021
0:097:00 PM1031
0:107:00 PM031
0:117:00 PM233
0:127:01 PM134
0:137:01 PM1246
0:147:01 PM2167
0:157:01 PM140207
0:167:02 PM132339
0:177:02 PM99438
0:187:02 PM68506
0:197:02 PM1507
0:207:03 PM5512
0:217:03 PM6518
0:227:03 PM11529
0:237:03 PM7536
0:247:04 PM1537
0:257:04 PM0537
0:267:04 PM2539
0:277:04 PM0539
0:287:05 PM37576
0:297:05 PM18594
0:307:05 PM15609
0:317:05 PM8617
0:327:06 PM18635
0:337:06 PM7642
0:347:06 PM12654
0:357:06 PM0654
0:367:07 PM0654
0:377:07 PM0654
0:387:07 PM0654
0:397:07 PM1655
0:407:08 PM0655
0:417:08 PM0655
0:427:08 PM0655
0:437:08 PM0655
0:447:09 PM0655
0:457:09 PM1656
Other Animals

Cottontail Rabbits

I’ve been having a relaxed August. I’ve been out birding but doing very little photography. Fall migration has started and a trickle of interesting birds have been making their way through Central Park over the last few weeks.

The Red-tailed Hawk fledglings have become much harder to find. My last sighting was a week ago. One of the TCC fledglings was high above The Pool chasing Chimney Swifts, who were much more agile that the youngster. Silly Teenager!

The Cottontail Rabbits continue to multiply. Two of them have been easy to find at the south end of the Maintenance Meadow, in the late afternoons.

San Remo/Pinetum/AMNH Red-tailed Hawks

Playing In The Playground

When I arrived a playful Red-tailed Hawk fledgling from the Pinetum nest was making lots of hunting attempts in Seneca Village before moving up to Summit Rock, and then moving on to the Diana Ross playground. It ate a Brown Rat and was joined by the other fledgling. Both of them entertained the children in the playground stopping on a little roof and a park bench. The two of them were next to each other for a brief time and both look great.