Other Birds Archives - Page 68 of 78

December 30, 2006December 25, 2020Eagles, Falcons, Hawks and Osprey, Inwood Hill Park Red-tailed Hawks, Other Birds

Inwood Hill, 103rd Street and Central Park

I started the afternoon in Inwood Hill Park on Saturday. The Urban Rangers hosted an Owl walk. No owls were seen, but owl pellets were found and dissected. Both kids and adults had a good time.

We didn’t see either of the Inwood Red-tails, but I did get a chance to see their nest. I learned from a ranger that the female Inwood Red-tailed hawk had to be rescued in the fall. She tested positive for West Nile virus, but has made a complete recovery and has been released back into the park.

This was the only raptor I saw up at Inwood was a Cooper’s Hawk.

The 103rd Street Monk Parakeets were on my way home, so I stopped by to take a look. One was on the balcony when I arrived.

I then walked down to see how our 86th Street, Red-tailed Hawk was doing. Like clockwork, after moving about for a fifteen minutes the hawk settled down for the evening.

December 27, 2006December 20, 2020Other Birds

Gluttonous Monks

After reading Mary Beth Looper and Ben Cacace’s reports of four Monk Parakeets on the Yahoo! group ebirdsnyc, I’ve been trying to find time to see them. The Parakeets are in the block bounded by West 77th Street, West 78th Street, Amsterdam Avenue and Columbus Avenue.

I can confirm that there are four Monk Parakeets. I saw them in two trees on 78th Street, close to Columbus. They were enjoying two budding trees full of berries.

I couldn’t find their roost. Before dusk they appeared to go into the center of the block, where there are backyards and gardens, although they could have gone to an adjoining block.

December 24, 2006December 20, 2020Other Birds

Common Loon

On Christmas Eve Day, I got to see the Common Loon that’s been on the Reservoir. It’s a new bird for my Central Park list.

I entered the park at 90th and Fifth Avenue and looked for the Loon. I ended up making the entire loop of the Reservoir before finding the bird at 87th about 100 feet from the eastern bank.

The Common Loon has been doing lots of underwater diving, coming up for only about 20 seconds before going under. Then it changed behavior.

The reason for all this behavior surfaced nearby, a Cormorant.

December 17, 2006December 25, 2020927 5th Avenue Red-tailed Hawks, Eagles, Falcons, Hawks and Osprey, Other Birds, Other Red-tailed Hawks

Christmas Bird Count

Central Park had its 107th Annual Christmas Bird Count on Sunday. (To accommodate various greater New York locations, the counts are held on various days before and after Christmas.)

The Count is a census which records the number of each species found in the entire park. There are seven
teams, splitting up the park into sections, Northwest, Northeast, Reservoir, Great
Lawn, Ramble, Southwest and Southeast. The teams all start at the South Pump House, split up to do
their section’s and then meet back at the Arsenal for lunch and the tally.

The mix of birders included all skill levels, from beginners to experts. So, if you don’t think you’re qualified for the event, don’t worry. Join in next year, everyone is welcome.

Marie Winn giving a portion of the Ramble team its instructions.

Our first raptor was this Cooper’s Hawk. It keep our initial numbers down at the feeders in the Ramble, which was free of birds as long as the Cooper’s Hawk was about.
(Most of my pictures I took were of the raptors we found. This, however, is not representative of our day. My photographs of the day clearly reflect my fascination with raptors, not the full range of birds we saw!)

Our second raptor was a Red-tailed Hawk by the area along the Lake called the Oven.

This is the same Red-tailed Hawk as seen earlier. It looks to be Pale Male, but I can’t be certain. The morning was cold and this bird had puffed up to stay warm making it harder to make an I.D.

Red-tailed Hawk just outside the park on a water tower.

New York City Park’s Commissioner, Adrian Benepe.

After the count, I went out to look for hawks in the Great Lawn area. I found this juvenile Red-tailed Hawk in a tree inside the Diana Ross playground at 81st and Central Park West.

After about twenty minutes the hawk moved about 20 feet east before moving from tree to tree about 100 feet north.

Then the hawk took off and was chased by an adult hawk up to the top of the Great Lawn.

When I caught up to them, the juvenile hawk was nowhere to be found, but Pale Male was there with a pose that said, “Youngster, this is my territory.”

December 16, 2006December 25, 2020Other Birds, Other Red-tailed Hawks

103rd Street

I walked through The Rambles, the Great Lawn and the Reservoir without seeing anything too unusual. So, I left Central Park and made my way to 103rd and Amsterdam. The Parakeet nest was empty, so I walked through the Fredrick Douglas Houses, and saw a group of about 100 pigeons circling overhead. A sure sign a raptor was about.

On top of 875 Columbus, I found a Red-tailed Hawk. This building is at the top of a hill and must have great views in all directions.

The hawk stayed for about 30 minutes before flying at least 20 blocks south-southwest. I had been all set to say it was the Cathedral Female, before the long flight south!

After the hawk left, I went to the Monk Parakeet nest. There was a couple watching them with binoculars. They reported that the Monks had just arrived around 4:10. The Parakeets tucked themselves into their roost by 4:25.

December 9, 2006December 25, 2020Eagles, Falcons, Hawks and Osprey, Other Birds, Other Red-tailed Hawks

Not What I Was Looking For…

I went into Central Park on Saturday hoping to find a Cooper’s Hawk, take a few pictures of Pale Male and then go off to the Monk Parakeets on Amsterdam Avenue.

As often happens when birding, I ended up with a different set of observations.