I went looking for the Peregrine Falcon today, and saw it leave the “picnic table perch” on the north tower of the El Dorado and fly to the south tower. On the south face, near the top it perched for over an hour in the warmth of the setting afternoon sun.
On the north tower of the El Dorado Apartments (300 Central Park West), there is an air conditioner in the left/right center of the tower about a quarter of the way down. The Peregrine Falcon which likes to hang out by the reservoir, uses this AC unit as picnic table. In the photographs, you can see the remains of a Rock Pigeon. So, if you’re looking for the Peregrine Falcon and don’t see it in the trees by the Gothic Bridge, take a look up at the El Dorado.
I finally caught up with the Peregrine Falcon that likes to sun on the north edge of the Reservoir in Central Park for the first time this winter. We had a pair in the same tree last year, and a single Peregrine the year before. This one was very vocal. I couldn’t see what it was concerned about, but if it was like last year, it was most likely a Red-tailed Hawk.
It’s nice to have the Peregrine back. The low tree branch the bird perches in gives great looks at the bird.
It’s been cold enough that owls will soon be migrating through Central Park, so I always look at a set of pines in the Arthur Ross Pinetum this time of year. I heard a squirrel cry, and instead of an owl I found this young Cooper’s Hawk, who quickly went after a bird and made a meal of it.
Governors Island is now open after dark on Fridays and Saturdays, so I went in search of bats on Saturday. I saw and recorded echolocations from two Eastern Red Bats at Nolan Park around 8:15-8:45 p.m.
Earlier in the daylight, I enjoyed views of the Yellow Crowned Night Heron nest, Killdeer and Common Terns. I was also able to see the three young Peregrine Falcons and their mother at 55 Water Street.
The Common Terns nest on two of the piers, Lima and Tango. NYC Audubon is encouraging Common Terns to nest on the Lima Pier this year and has put up three decoys. It took me awhile to realize there were decoys and I had to subtract three Terns from my eBirds checklist.
They piers are named after their shapes, L, T and Y, which in the NATO alphabet become, Lima, Tango and Yankee. The Yankee pier, which now only is half a Y, is in active use by the Brooklyn bound ferry.
In addition to the birds on Memorial Day weekend, there was a military ship being guarded by the Coast Guard across Buttermilk Channel and a few military plane and helicopter flyovers.
I made a detour on my way back from Randalls Island to Riverside Church to see how the Peregrine Falcons were doing. It was a bit too early to see the youngsters, but I did get to see the mother outside of the nest and saw the father flying around the church.
