Eagles, Falcons, Hawks and Osprey

El Dorado Peregrine Falcons

I hadn’t seen falcons on the El Dorado this winter, so I was happy to see a pair of Peregrine Falcons there today. One was on each tower.

I first spotted one circling over the Central Park Reservoir, and watched it land on the building. But then I noticed a second falcon on the other tower.

Watching them take off and land, I could see at least one of them was banded. It’s going to be tough to read the numbers from the ground. It looked like there was both a standard band and a larger colored letter/number band.

Other Birds

Black-headed Gull

Central Park’s Reservoir has had a Black-headed Gull for the last few days. Originally found by Leo Wexler-Mann on Friday and relocated by Julius on Saturday. It is a small gull with red legs and a red to black bill. During the winter, especially as lakes and rivers freeze upstate, the reservoir has rare visitors. We should have more as the temperatures drop this week.

Owls

Great Horned Owl

I had a nice look at a Great Horned Owl today in upper Manhattan. I arrived to the sound of American Crows calling, and they led me to the correct spot. There were a few birders already there and they pointed out the tree the bird was in. I had hoped to stay for fly out, but as the sun went down I started to get too cold, even with long johns on.

Other Birds

American Woodcock in Union Square

Thanks to a report from Alice Deutsch this morning, I saw the American Woodcock in Union Square this afternoon.

The woodcock rested in some ivy for about 90 minutes before being harassed by a Brown Rat. Eventually, it needed to fly from a fairly protected area to a fenced off plaza. Luckily, it was dark enough that the local Cooper’s Hawk didn’t see it.

Other Birds

Thank you NYC Birders

I had a wonderful year birding in New York County this year. I ended up with 180 species.

Thank you to the Discord Manhattan-RBA and Manhattan-Chat admins, GroupMe Manhattan *RARE* Bird Alert and Manhattan Common Bird Alert admins, and the eBird reviewers for the county.

Thanks also go to my fellow birders, who reported birds, answered questions, etc. I learned a lot this year from so many different people.

I recently found out I could summarize in one PDF all of the images I had submitted to eBird, which are usually pictures needed to support a rare bird sighting. It’s a great collection of images that shows the rich diversity of avian life. You can view it my clicking on the image below. Clicking on any of the images will bring up information about the bird and the image on eBird.

Thank again and Happy New Year,

Bruce

Click here to see PDF