All over New York City, wintering hawks are establishing themselves in various parks. I’ve received emails about hawks on the Upper East Side, down in Washington Square Park, and Riverside Park in Manhattan, as well as other locations in Queens and Brooklyn.
This Cooper’s Hawk seems to have settled into the Loch in Central Park, and looks like it might stay the winter.
The fall migration still has some beauties coming our way, including this Cedar Waxwing, a House Finch and a male Wood Duck.
I can’t figure out what species of bird this is. It was on the south shore of Turtle Pond. Is it just a strangely marked Rock Pigeon? If you know, please leave a comment.
I wasn’t able to get close to this bird, so I’m sorry if the photographs and movies aren’t that clear.
After two days, it’s clear it’s a Rock Pigeon. The behavior confused me, but the white cere should have been the giveaway.
Turtle Pond was host to a male Mandarin Duck today. The species is not native to North America, so it was most likely an escapee from a zoo or collection.
I didn’t bird much this weekend but I did spend a few hours in Central Park on both Saturday and Sunday.
Pale Male, who usually is easy to find on fall afternoons west of the Met or around the Great Lawn has been hard to find this year. I wonder if the continued construction on the museum has him hunting in other places this year.
On Sunday, there were three Wood Ducks and and immature Double-Crested Cormorant on Turtle Pond. The Wood Ducks tried to take a nap, but got frightened by some cheers for NYC Marathon runners and left the pond.
Some fun birds while hanging around to see if the Eastern Bluebirds would reappear (which they didn’t). A Blue-headed Vireo, two Palm Warblers, a House Wren and a Brown Creeper.
