I saw four Juvenile Red-tails along with the Sheep Meadow adults around the rink and the Pond on Monday afternoon/evening. It was a surprising number.
Past sunset, when I would have expected all of them to be roosting, one of the Juvenile hawks caught and ate a rat, well into the evening. This is the latest I’ve ever seen a Red-tailed Hawk eat.
Friday was a tougher day to see the Couch’s Kingbird, than Thursday. It was harder to find and when found didn’t stay around as much.
When I was watching it, the most reliable location was 11th and 4th Streets again. I did find a berry tree just south of 11th Street, which could be seen from West 4th and Perry, where American Robins and the Couch’s Kingbird were eating berries. I suspect the bird is eating and then taking advantage of the sun on 11th Street to digest them.
Another rare Kingbird, is in New York besides the Cassin’s in Brooklyn. It’s a Couch’s Kingbird and is in Greenwich Village. I saw it as my first bird of the New Year. (It was a life bird for me.) The bird was discovered by Zack Winestine.
The bird which is normally in Mexico and southern Texas, is for some reason in some of the most charming blocks of the Village. This afternoon, it was mostly at 11th and 4th Streets. (In the Village, these two streets do meet!)
From the looks of the seeds it’s regurgitating, it’s surviving on a diet of mostly fruit rather than insects.
The Cassin’s Kingbird, continued to be visible at Floyd Bennett Field on Sunday. I couldn’t resist going out to Brooklyn to continue studying this bird’s behavior.
Last Saturday, Kai Sheffield found a Cassin’s Kingbird out at Floyd Bennett Field. Scores of birders tried to find it last Sunday. So, it was great to see a tweet from Rob Jett that the bird had been refound in the Community Gardens of Floyd Bennett Field this Saturday.
When I got out to Floyd Bennett Field there were about 35 birders looking for the bird. Almost all of them got great view of the rare bird found normaly in the southwest of the United States.
I spent Saturday bird watching rather than hawk watching and like earlier in the week got mesmerized by Ruby-throated Hummingbirds.
