This last Friday, a Northern Saw-whet Owl was high in a tree in the Pinetum. There have been two earlier reports of Saw-whets in the park in the last week or so, and it is unclear if this is the same bird or we have a wave of migrates coming through.
The Central Park’s resident Great Horned Owl, continues to delight the park’s birders. The last few weeks have been especially nice, as the owl has been easier to watch. There are fewer trees with leaves remaining, so it has been perching lower and in more open postions.
A Red-shouldered Hawk, a close cousin to our resident Red-tailed Hawks was in the Ramble of Central Park on Tuesday. November is a great time to look for unusual raptors in the park and this was a nice find.
I had a nice evening watching a Great Horned Owl in Central Park. Except for an unexpected first flight, the evening was similar to Tuesday night.
This morning I went on a Linnaean Society of New York Central Park walk and we have 40 species, including a Bald Eagle and an Eastern Blue Bird. I went back to Central Park in the afternoon to bird some more and saw the Barred Owl I had seen yesterday, and a Great Horned Owl. Not bad for a gray, cold mid-November day.
I spent an hour this afternoon at the Reservoir of Central Park, watching a Peregrine Falcon on the divider between the east and west side. It was just hanging out, but keep all of the gulls, including a Laughing Gull from resting on the divider.
On my walk home, I stopped in the Ramble to look for Fox Sparrows, which have just returned to the park this week. I found on on a path at the Evodia Field.
As I continued home, I ran across a group of birders watching a Barred Owl. The group was able to watch it make a few flights before loosing track of it. It made one attempt to catch a squirrel.
As the cold weather finally hits us, it’s nice to know we’ll have some fun birds in the park in the late fall and early winter.
