Drinking Red-tailed Hawk
I’m back in New York and finally had a chance to visit Central Park today. Here are a few pictures of a young Red-tailed hawk taking a drink of water at one of the few ice free areas of the Lake today.
Category: Other Red-tailed Hawks
Central Park Hawks After The Snow
On Sunday, I spent the late afternoon looking for Long-eared Owls without success. But I did run into a few hawks.
On the Beresford Apartments, was Pale Male in the oval window, and Lola soaking up the sun on a south facing ledge.
This young hawk was in the Ramble making its way between the official and the not so official bird feeders looking for customers to eat.
This Sharp-shinned Hawk, with prey in talons, was being chased by a Red-tailed Hawk near 69th Street and the West Drive. The Sharp-shinned Hawk evaded the Red-tail and got away with its prey. Everything happened too fast for me to capture the action, but it reminded me that winter is the time to see lots of raptors in New York City.
Croton-on-Hudson
I went up to Croton-on-Hudson to look for Bald Eagles today. I didn’t have any luck finding one, but did run into this Red-tailed Hawk who was hunting in a marsh.
Thanksgiving Day
I went looking for Eastern-screech Owls today, but didn’t have any luck finding them. The familiar cavities and locations from last year, all turned up empty. A few cavities even had squirrels where owls had been roosting last season.
The day wasn’t a wash out however. It included an adult Cooper’s Hawk who led me from the Ramble to the Locust Grove. It also included two juvenile Red-tailed Hawks, who seem to get along just fine. Both had just finished meals, and were in trees no more than 100 yards apart.
Young vs. Established
The young hawk I had seen yesterday was in the same general area today. I first saw it around the playgrounds north of Tavern on the Green, and then on a C.P.W. building around 68th Street. Then it took off towards the Heckscher Ball Fields. When I caught up with the hawk, it had just finished up eating and was cleaning its beak.
Then I spotted Charlotte, the female hawk from Central Park South, on one of the Ball Fields. She took off towards the young hawk’s tree with some prey.
The young hawk left, but ended up moving to a number of trees around the Ball Fields as Charlotte ate. I could not figure out all of the dynamics, but something was surely going on between the two of them.
Another Rainy Saturday
There was a window of a few hours this afternoon where the rain stopped and I could finally get some birding in. Between the weather and the end of daylight savings time, it’s been difficult to get to the park.
Eastern-screech Owl season begins in a few weeks. The owls which are very difficult to find in the fall should soon be switching to cavities from daytime tree roosts, where they’ll be much easier to find. I’m not sure if it’s the lack of tree leaves, the cold weather or the combination that causes the switch.
There had been reports of occasional owl sightings around The Mall and the Sheep Meadow within the last few months, so I did a loop around the area. No luck finding an owl today, but I did find this juvenile Red-tailed Hawk, just north of the Lawn Bowling Greens.
