After a week of sensational stories about the death of Lima, comes a refreshingly balanced article and interview about the rehabilitators, Bobby and Cathy Horvath.  Thank you, Esther Zuckerman and The Village Voice.

Happy New Year. 

Please be happy hawk watchers! 

Hawk watching is great fun but recently there has been a lot of negativity on some hawk watching blogs and chat rooms in New York City.  I usually let these things go, but these spats are distracting us from the real raptor issues in New York City — protecting nest sites, limiting rodenticide usage and supporting local rehabbers.

New York has real issues right now.  For example, in Riverside Park the local community is putting pressure on park management to greatly increase rodenticide usage in the park.  The park’s management would like to control the rodents while protecting the hawks by focusing on improving sanitation rather than putting out poisons.  However it doesn’t have funding to replace its wire trash cans throughout the park with rodent resistant models.  Believe it or not, replacing the trash cans would cost over $100,000!

Is the hawk watching community doing anything to support Riverside Park management?  A few are writing letters of support, but that’s about it.  Instead bloggers and chat room users are arguing about hawk names, tree management policies, bird banding, false I.D.s and making provocative statements.

Please don’t squabble over issues that don’t matter.  It’s more than a waste of time and energy.  It prevents us from addressing the real issues and reduces our credibility as a lobbying group.

Over the last few months these false issues have included:

• What hawk watcher should call the new female at Washington Square.  It doesn’t matter!  Wild animals don’t have names.  We’re just giving them nick names so we can talk about them.  If one person uses one name and someone else uses another, who cares?

  Better yet, why doesn’t someone take a leadership role and auction off rights to name her?  Maybe an individual or a chat room could raise some money for the trash cans in Riverside Park!

• Attacks on banding.  Bands have been placed on birds for decades, and have provided important information to scientists helping conservation efforts.  The issue with Violet’s band is still unclear.  It was an isolated issue that could easily have been a complication due to an injury rather than the placement of a band that was too small.  There is no reason to personally attack regulators of bird banding.  It just poisons any possible partnership that might be needed in the future.
• Central Park staff have been attacked for removing trees after three large storms.  Central Park has bedrock very close to ground level.  It creates situations where 100 year old trees may only have roots 8 feet deep.  This problem requires the park to remove trees which look healthy, but have become a risk to human life.
  There is no hidden agenda needing a FOIL request.  This is appropriate tree management, which at times can include removing older trees, and replanting. 
• False I.D.s.  Over the last few months, bloggers who live outside of New York City, have been looking at photographs and saying things like “Oh, that hawk in Washington Square looks like that hawk in Tompkins Square Park.”  This might increase blog traffic, but it just confuses people, and frustrates those that watch the hawks in person.

So, if you care about hawks, please keep to the real issues which primarily are protecting nest sites, limiting rodenticide usage and supporting local rehabbers!

In the June 2nd, New York Times there was an editorial entitled, Quiet? In New York City?.  This editorial claimed that the declaration of the Bethesda Fountain area as a Quiet Zone and enforcement of this regulation, was somehow a class war between rich people and poor musicians.

Anyone who birds in the Ramble knows that last year the noise from Bethesda Fountain made birding by ear impossible during the spring and summer. I would encourage all birders to write The New York Times' Editorial Department and tell the Times that the quiet zone regulations are very sensible and are supported by those individuals who appreciate the restorative properties of the natural areas of the park.

This isn't about cracking down on a few "poor, struggling, musicians", but is about regulating the park intelligently so that it can be enjoyed by the widest number of people, some of whom enjoy the sounds of nature over the sounds of man.

Long Island Press has a very nice feature article and movie about Bobby and Cathy Horvath, two animal rehabilitators who have done fantastic work helping birds of prey in New York City.

In our urban and suburban world of greater New York City, wildlife sometimes needs assistance when it is disturbed by humans.  Bobby and Cathy Horvath have been helping out for over thirty years.

If you’d like to make a monetary donation, checks can be made out to “Wildlife in Need of Rescue and Rehabilitation” and sent to:

WINORR, Inc.
202 N. Wyoming Avenue
North Massapequa, NY 11758

The Urban Park Rangers are excited about an event this Saturday and asked me to help promote it.  It sounds like a lot of fun with lots of great activities for both adults and kids.  It looks like the weather is going to be great too with a sunny day and a high of 62 degrees.

Urban Wildlife Appreciation Day

Fort Tryon Park, Cloister Lawn
Saturday, April 10, 2010
11:30 a.m.-3:00 p.m.

Getting to the park is easy.  Take the A train to 190th Street and exit the station by elevator. Walk north along Margaret Corbin Drive for approximately ten minutes or transfer to the M4 bus and ride north one stop.

Get up close and personal with NYC’s wild residents. Learn about squirrels, raccoons, coyotes, skunks, eagles and more. Enjoy musical performances, live animals, and kid’s activities.  Also, mounted park enforcement patrol will be there with their horses.  Discover the best places in NYC and NYS to watch wildlife. With the Fort Tryon Park Trust.  Ethnic food will be available for purchase.

Audubon’s Chrismas Bird Count is a wonderful tradition that started in 1900.  It’s a great event that welcomes birders of all skill levels.  These counts no longer are held on Christmas day, but on the days surounding the holiday.

In New York City, the dates are on the weekend before and after Christmas.  I’ll be attending the Central Park count on Sunday, December 20th.

For more details on the New York City counts, see the NYC Audubon website.