Battery Park

I went down to Battery Park to see if I could find the banded hawk NJ30, which had been seen and photographed by other hawk watchers earlier in the month.

I didn’t find anything at first but after about half an hour, I saw a number of pigeons and gulls fly. It was a hawk alright, but not the Red-tailed Hawk NJ30.  Instead it was a Cooper’s Hawk by the Coast Guard building.

Manhattan’s reliable female Wild Turkey was also in her usual spot.  (She’s not so wild anymore. I think she’s being feed regularly.)

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Central Park Hawks

Today was a nice day in Central Park.  I had the two Red-tailed hawks trying to establish a nest on CPW, (now working on a nest on 322 CPW.)  Then a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk on the American Museum of Natural History followed by Sharp-shinned Hawk in the Evodia Field. 

My next stop was Fifth Avenue, where Octavia is now brooding.  Pale Male was tending to the nest (rearranging twigs as is his habit) and she returned to the nest.

A quick walk down to Central Park South uncovered one Red-tailed hawk there. Seven hawks, not too bad for a brief afternoon visit to the park.

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Randalls Island Peregrine Falcons

A nice trip to Randalls Island on Sunday yeilded the two resident Peregrine Falcons atop the center building of The Manhattan Psychiatric Center.  One was on a corner and the other on a set of communications towers.  The bird on the tower was banded but it was too far away to capture any numbers.

The count for the day was fairly good.  35 species with a Common Goldeneye and a Belted Kingfisher as highlights.  The day had three raptor species, American Kestrel, Peregrine Falcon and Red-tailed Hawk.

620  Brant
406  Canada Goose
30  Gadwall
3  American Black Duck
28  Mallard
12  Bufflehead
1  Common Goldeneye
14  Red-breasted Merganser
24  Ruddy Duck
1  Red-throated Loon
1  Double-crested Cormorant
2  Great Cormorant
1  Great Blue Heron
2  Red-tailed Hawk
1  American Coot
20  Ring-billed Gull
1  Herring Gull
4  Great Black-backed Gull
45  Rock Pigeon
3  Mourning Dove
2  Belted Kingfisher
3  American Kestrel
2  Peregrine Falcon
4  American Crow
4  Black-capped Chickadee
1  White-breasted Nuthatch
14  American Robin
2  Northern Mockingbird
57  European Starling
1  American Tree Sparrow
1  Song Sparrow
2  White-throated Sparrow
1  Dark-eyed Junco
6  Northern Cardinal
15  House Sparrow
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Another Randalls Island Day

I realized on Saturday that I haven’t spend a real day birding in a long while.  I’ve been going after specific birds, but not doing a real walk counting birds for a long time.

So, I birded Randalls Island from end to end on Sunday to see what I could find.  Boy, did I feel rusty.  Looks like I’m going to be spending lots of time this winter doing long walks…

Photographs are of the Red-tailed Hawk pair and their nest just north of the stadium field, an American Kestrel, Brant, Black-capped Chickadee, and Red-breasted Mergansers.

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