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.
This afternoon I was lucky to film a food delivery to The Century Apartments by the Peregrine Falcon male. (Because the scrape is in a gutter, it is impossible to see it from the street.)
I went up to see how the Red-tailed Hawks were doing up at 95th and Central Park West. I’ve heard the female found a new mate over the winter and I went up to see if they were rebuilding the old nest. I didn’t see any sign of them, but I have seen two adult Red-tailed Hawks a bit further north this winter around The Pool. I know the Fifth Avenue, Tompkins Square and Washington Square Park hawks are doing fine. I’d be happy to get feedback on other nests, especially any nests north of Central Park.
Having come up empty, I went over to the No. 28 Bridge and saw the Peregrine Falcon female sitting in her usual roost. She left before I could get my camera out. I then found a falcon on a terrace railing of the north tower of the El Dorado. I thought it was the female, but discovered it was the male after he made a pass at the highest air conditioner on the tower, where the female was eating a pigeon. She made a cry as if to say, “I’m not sharing.” This was the first time I’ve seen them on the El Dorado, and it was nice to find a spot where they eat. From the looks of the air conditioner, it looks to be the site of many meals.
Update 2/11/19: I received a report from a resident of 350 Central Park West that visits were made to the Red-tailed Hawk nest Monday morning. Great News!
The air conditioner is marked by the light circle on the right hand tower.
On Tuesday afternoon, I got to see the Peregrine Falcon pair perched in their regular spot near the No. 28/Gothic Bridge. The female hunted and caught a pigeon mid-air in under a minute. Peregrine Falcons are deadly hunters! The pigeon took much longer to eat, around 25 minutes.
