Governors Island Horned Larks
This week Horned Larks have been on both Randall’s Island and Governors Island. Today, I caught up with the ones on Governors Island. They were eating grass seeds on the ballfields.
Randalls Island Horned Larks
Four Horned Larks have stuck around Randalls Island out of two larger groups that had been seen both on Randall’s Island and Governors Island a few days earlier.
It had snowed and they were eating grass seeds in the bare patches of the snow along the eastern edge of the ballfields in the northeast end of the island. They were a bit skittish, and I got my best pictures digiscoping and staying 100 feet from them.
Riverside Drive Dickcissel
A Dickcissel that was first seen in a birder’s backyard on a BirdCam feeder Harlem and now in Riverside Park was very cooperative today. It was on the ground and sometimes on a small bird feeder about 50 feet south of the Tennis Center bathrooms.
It was a great bird to watch on a cold fall day. The winds from the Hudson made it even colder!
Great Horned Owl, A Later Night
I carried my heavy camera equipment with me on Sunday, hoping the owl would be in the same perch but came up empty. So, I switched back to my light weight gear on Monday and then Tuesday. The owl was back in its Friday and Saturday perch on Tuesday but I found out too late to bring my better equipment!
However, I was able to get some decent pictures with my scope and iPhone.
Unlike Saturday, were it when to a high perch after fly out, which is what I’m used to with a Great Horned Owl, tonight this owl seemed to be interested in the rodents that it had been seeing from its perch. It flew out to two different branches about 25 feet off the ground and carefully looked at the ground. It flew off after about 40 minutes, and didn’t hunt in front of us, but we had extended views and enjoyed the experience!
Great Horned Owl
On Saturday, I was happy to find the Great Horned Owl that had been reported being in the park for a few days. I walked under an oak tree, which had been a roosting location of owls in past years to find a huge amount of white wash on the ground. I looked up and there was the owl.
The owl coughed up a pellet, and when it was found, there were two others nearby, that looked slightly disintegrated. So, it is possible that the owl had used the roosting location on previous days.
Both a Coopers Hawk and a Red-tailed Hawk harassed the owl, but there wasn’t the normal set of Blue Jays and Tufted Titmouses bothering the owl.
At fly out, it flew due east, perched for fifteen minutes and then flew west. We couldn’t relocate it. However on our way out, we did see an Eastern Cottontail rabbit, which further reminded us of our last Ramble Great Horned Owl, Geraldine. Nights with her often included a rabbit near the lake.
I looked for the owl on Sunday but couldn’t relocate it.
Peregrine Falcon
On a quiet afternoon out on Governor’s Island, I discovered a Peregrine Falcon on the fence of the sea wall, at the southern tip of the island at Picnic Point. It was amazing to have a Peregrine Falcon at eye level. I had about ten minutes with the bird, before it flew off in the direction of Staten Island.
