Gray Day
On a gray late Fall day, a visit to Central Park yielded a few Cooper’s Hawks, two Barred Owls and a few Red-tailed Hawks. Let’s hope the Barred Owls stay for the Christmas Bird count, Sunday, December 16th.
Category: Eagles, Falcons, Hawks and Osprey
Weekend In Central Park
I spent time watching American Crows, waterfowl and American Kestrels on Saturday and watched Pale Male on Sunday. The Harlem Meer had a nice selection of birds, including Buffleheads, Ruddy Ducks, Gadwalls, Mallards, Northern Shovelers, Wood Ducks, and a Mute Swan.
Sandy made a mess of the park, and there are still sections closed. The clean up may take longer than usual as resources are being sent to hard hit areas of NYC rather than Central Park. Sadly entitled Upper East and West siders are complaining about how they suffered because they can’t walk their dogs in the park or use the bypass road in the north of the park, which is now a staging area for the clean up. Get a life folks!
Bleecker Street Peregrine Falcon
I went looking for the Washington Square Red-tailed Hawks on Wednesday and came up empty. However, I did find the Peregrine Falcon that hangs out at the top of 100 Bleecker Street. I sure hope we have a Peregrine Falcon scrape next year in the Village.
Réserve Naturelle des Sept-Iles, Bretagne, France
On vacation in Brittany, France, I discovered a wonderful two hour cruise to a nature preserve, off of Pleumeur-Bodou. The cuise visits a set of islands that host breeding puffins and gannets, that this year is celebrating its centenial as a nature preserve.
The puffins had already left for the season, but hundreds of Northern Gannets were still raising young on one of the islands. Other birds and mammals seen on the trip were European Oystercatchers, Herring Gulls, Gray Seals, European Shags and a single Peregrine Falcon.
Copulation In Washington Square
This evening was kind of quiet with Bobby perched on a building on the west side of the park, and then the cross. The only action had been a Peregrine Falcon which made a brief visit.
But then came Rosie to join Bobby. Bobby went across the park and back and landed on top of Rosie. The copulation lasted the few seconds it always does.
Then both went off to roost for evening.
Washington Square
This afternoon in Washington Square was fun. Both hawks were very easy to find and for the first time, I got to see the nearby Peregrine Falcon in detail. The Peregrine Falcon is a juvenile and may be roosting on 100 Bleecker Street, an I. M. Pei designed, International Style building used for NYU faculty housing.
Bobby roosted on MacDougal street building this evening. It’s a noisy perch, but does have a view of 100 Bleecker!
