Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk aren’t at all unusual in New York City, but we only see them a few times a year in Central Park, so this was another nice winter surprise.
Category: Eagles, Falcons, Hawks and Osprey
More Views Of The Century Peregrines
On Sunday, I got to see the Peregrines again. The youngsters were out on a ledge and an adult was watching over them. The eyasses wings are now more fully developed and they look great. During my visit a partially eaten bird was retrieved and feed to the eyasses. It’s nice to be able to watch them so easily.
The Century Peregrines At 25 Central Park West
I’m a little late to the party, since these Peregrines have been on The Century for three years. But I was overjoyed to see the parents and their two eyasses on Saturday. The Century is located at 25 Central Park West between 62nd and 63rd Streets.
The nest box is on the eastern side of the south tower. For news about the hatching of the two eyasses, see The West Side Rag and the Gothamist.
(I am concerned about a picture in The West Side Rag. The pebbles in the nest box are much larger than the gravel traditionally used in nest boxes. Given that only two of four eggs hatched this year, the owners of the box might want to switch to a gravel approved for nest box use before next season.)
Egg At Tompkins Square Park
There is at least one egg at the Tompkins Square Park nest. The female has started brooding and everything looks great so far. In addition to the Red-tailed Hawks, today there was an American Kestrel around the edge of the park both on Avenue A and Seventh Street.
Update: A second egg was laid on Thursday afternoon and a third was laid in the week.
It Was Above Freezing
Finally a warm day, in the high 40’s to watch birds in Central Park. The cold was getting a bit old. My day started with a Cooper’s Hawk, and then some fun song birds at the feeders in the Ramble. It ended with two Long-eared Owls, one of which had an adventure with a gray squirrel and coughed up a pellet.
Happy New Year
My New Year’s resolution is to do a little more birding and a little less photography during the non-nesting/fledgling period for hawks. (Basically the months outside of April, May, June and July.)
So today, I just went for a long walk around Central Park today with my scope and took an occasional digiscoping picture. My bird count 39 species. The highlight was seeing two Baltimore Orioles.
| Count | Species | |
| 81 | Canada Goose | |
| 2 | Wood Duck | |
| 41 | Mallard | |
| 1 | American Black Duck x Mallard (hybrid) | |
| 37 | Northern Shoveler | |
| 1 | Ring-necked Duck | |
| 8 | Bufflehead | |
| 9 | Hooded Merganser | |
| 10 | Ruddy Duck | |
| 4 | Pied-billed Grebe | |
| 1 | Sharp-shinned Hawk | |
| 1 | Cooper’s Hawk | |
| 3 | Red-tailed Hawk | |
| 5 | American Coot | |
| 18 | Ring-billed Gull | |
| 6 | Great Black-backed Gull | |
| 23 | Rock Pigeon | |
| 1 | Mourning Dove | |
| 1 | Red-bellied Woodpecker | |
| 2 | Downy Woodpecker | |
| 1 | Hairy Woodpecker | |
| 11 | Blue Jay | |
| 1 | American Crow | |
| 2 | Black-capped Chickadee | |
| 2 | White-breasted Nuthatch | |
| 1 | Brown Creeper | |
| 1 | Carolina Wren | |
| 2 | American Robin | |
| 1 | Northern Mockingbird | |
| 4 | European Starling | |
| 1 | Song Sparrow | |
| 28 | White-throated Sparrow | |
| 8 | Dark-eyed Junco | |
| 2 | Northern Cardinal | |
| 1 | Red-winged Blackbird | |
| 6 |
Common Grackle | |
| 2 | Baltimore Oriole | |
| 11 | House Finch | |
| 8 | American Goldfinch | |
| 23 | House Sparrow |
