The Barred Owl that was in the park on Friday, continued use the same roost on Saturday. It was spotted catching and eating a Brown Rat on Friday night. I’m very concerned about the quality of prey in the park. I counted at least 10 rodent bait boxes in the park. While these could have snare traps, they most likely contain rodenticides. If this owl stays in the park, it will only be a few weeks before it is poisoned.
I went by around noon today, and didn’t see the hawks but returned around 4 pm. I thought I had struck out, but after about twenty minutes, the male appeared. He circled around the nest with a twig, but got more interested in scaring up all the pigeons that feed on the horse feed just inside the park at Sixth Avenue.
He ended up perching in Hallett Nature Sanctuary for about ten minutes before leaving. I caught up with him again as he went to the nest.
I’m a bit confused about what’s going on as I had been seeing the female near the nest each day. I haven’t seen her in the last two day. I don’t think she’s on the nest yet, so it will be interesting to see what happens over the next few days.
In the northeast corner of Bryant Park, a Barred Owl roosted today. It certainly isn’t the safest place for an owl with lots of cars and people, but it certainly has lots of prey. But the park also has a lot of bait boxes. These can hold rodenticides or snare traps. If they have rodenticides, there might be a problem with the prey.
I went to a play down in the “Alphabet” tonight, but on my way, I stopped by Washington Square Park and Tompkins Square Park. I didn’t see a Red-tailed Hawk at Washington Square Park, but saw both of the Tompkins Square Park hawks.
The female is brooding, and according to locals has been for about four days. Christo came zooming by at one point, but I couldn’t stay long enough to see an exchange. The nest is where it was last year.
Today, most of the activity was on the Trump Parc building, which in 2005 was the site of a successful Red-tailed Hawk nest. The female used a few perches for most of the afternoon, moving around on the various lighting fixtures. In the early evening, I found the male eating on a light near the female. After he was done eating, they copulated. They both flew off in the direction of The Mall, which is where I suspect they are roosting.
Michael George produced a wonderful piece for CBS Mornings, that was aired nationally today. It was a long piece about the reintroduction of Bald Eagles in New York City and featured Ranger Rob Mastrianni and rehabber Bobby Horvath. I contributed a few seconds of video to the story.
I was impressed that story of Rover’s visits to Central Park, which could have been just a brief sensationalized report, was instead a much deeper dive into why Bald Eagles are making a come back in New York City. They are returning due to the hard work of local rehabbers, and conservation employees of the city, state and national governments.
Kudos to Michael George for such a great report.
