St. John/Columbia Red-tailed Hawks Archives - Page 20 of 28

Saturday Marathon

I ran all around New York City on Sunday. Although spring hasn’t officially arrived, the city’s hawks are quite busy.

First stop was 888 Seventh Avenue. I saw both CPS Red-tailed hawks flying around 888 Seventh, but they both went past it. I found them on 1740 Broadway. It’s great to see them being so urban, but watching them this season is going to be tough.

Then it was off to the Cathedral Church of St. John to see how the Red-tailed Hawk pair was doing up north. The female of the pair was checking out the nest, which looks nicely refurbished.

I went back to the nest later in the afternoon and saw the male of the pair soaring over Morningside Park.

The female Red-tail left the nest and went in the direction of the projects at 103rd, so I walked down to see if she was on the Fredrick Douglas Houses. No luck finder her, but since the Monk Parakeets were in the neighborhood, I walked west.

The Monk Parakeet pair was busy ripping the nest apart. James O’Brien, who had joined me for part of the afternoon, thought it was spring cleaning, since many of the sticks lying on 103rd were full of feathers and poop. I got a note from Rebekah Creshkoff who reports seeing a third Parakeet near the nest an hour earlier. So, it might be possible that a second couple is moving in. Another early spring mystery.

After lunch, I went to see the Red-headed Woodpecker at Morningside Drive and 92nd Street. While I was there, two Red-tailed Hawks flew overhead.

Pale Male was on a 5th Avenue railing, He made a swift dive after a pigeon, failed to catch it, and went over to his favorite security camera on the Met.

She flew off to the weather station on the American Muesum of Natural History, before flying southeast.

Next I went to see our 86th Street winter guest, who will either leave soon or stake out this area of the park for the summer.

I was going to leave the park, but Jean Dean ran into me and encouraged me to stay and watch the lunar eclipse.

The timing of the moonrise meant that we saw only about half of the eclipse. We saw the pale red moon in full eclipse, and then saw it slowly return to full brightness.

I left before it was fully over. I had dressed for the warm day and not the chilly night!

December 31, 2006December 20, 2020927 5th Avenue Red-tailed Hawks, Other Red-tailed Hawks, St. John/Columbia Red-tailed Hawks

New Year’s Eve Day

On New Year’s Eve Day, I started hawk watching on the east side.

Either Pale Male or Lola was atop the “Oreo Building”. A Cooper’s Hawk moved from east to west through the Ramble, too quickly for me to get a picture.

Walking through the Locust Grove, I saw the park’s only Red Squirrel.

I walked up to 100th Street without seeing any Raptors. I ran into Robert, and we walked back to towards 86th Street to see if our “new” adult was going to roost. On the way there, we saw this hawk perched on a building in the low 90’s.

It moved down to tree level, and made a number of loops slowly moving north. It stopped a few times and we could clearly see that it was an adult by its red tail.

I continued to 86th Street.

Our 86th Street winter visitor had already settled down for the night.

It will be interesting to see if this hawk finds a mate and stays in the spring or moves on once the weather warms up.

December 10, 2006December 17, 2020927 5th Avenue Red-tailed Hawks, St. John/Columbia Red-tailed Hawks

A December Sunday in Central Park

I entered the park at 103rd and Central Park West.

The Pool and the Loch were quiet, but there was noise to the south, so I went to the north edge of the North Meadow. Two adult hawks appeared. One went north out of sight and the other circled overhead.

This hawk may be the St. John the Divine female, but I can’t be certain. It flew south down to about 90th.

The hawk moved from tree to tree, not settling in for more than ten minutes per branch.

Blue Jays were making it difficult to find peace and quiet. The hawk looked to be hunting rodents along the west park wall, so I left to avoid interfering.

I walked along the Reservoir, through the Pinetum, and down the Locust Grove. In the Locust there were a number of squirrels making alarm calls. Fifty feet away in a tree on the Great Lawn was the cause, Pale Male.

He had been in the same tree for most of the afternoon.

Before moving to another tree that had the last bit of sunlight.

Lola was in her usual spot on the Beresford.

November 25, 2006December 17, 2020927 5th Avenue Red-tailed Hawks, Other Birds, Southern Central Park Red-tailed Hawks, St. John/Columbia Red-tailed Hawks

Five Red-tailed Hawk Saturday

On Saturday, I had a slow start. I started in the Ramble trying to chase down the White-crowned Sparrow without much luck. I then walked to Turtle Pond and found a cute group of Buffleheads among some Mallards and Northern Shovelers.

Then I saw a hawk flying south of the Beresford. It was Lola, the Fifth Avenue female.

She landed on a water tower on south side of West 77th Street. The building is just west of the New York Historical Society. After about 15 minutes, she flew due east.

I thought she had gone to the Model Boat Pond, so I walked there. When I arrived I saw that Pale Male was on a building two blocks south of the nest location. (Lola may have stopped in the Ramble for a late lunch.)

Pale Male posed for pictures and then flew off towards the Met.

It was such a nice day, I thought I would look to see what the Central Park South hawks were up to. Charlotte was on the Essex House sign.

The nest still looks to be in good shape.

The Essex House boiler could use an overhaul.

Soon Charlotte went NW and circled around and then above the Trump International Hotel and Tower.

Then she landed on the top of a construction crane on a new building being built on Central Park West between 61st and 62nd.

Junior soon joined her. If I got it right, she’s on the top and he’s below her.

Having seen four of the six building-breeding Manhattan Red-tailed Hawks, I went up to the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine. My luck ran out, as I was only able to see the male of the Cathedral pair. However, five out of six isn’t that bad!

The Cathedral nest looked to be in good condition as well.

October 1, 2006December 20, 2020St. John/Columbia Red-tailed Hawks

Red-tail Over The Wildflower Meadow

While bird watching in the Wildflower Meadow, in the north of Central Park, we saw a Red-tailed Hawk fly over. The coloring and wing patterns looked like the St. John’s adult female.

August 12, 2006December 20, 2020St. John/Columbia Red-tailed Hawks

Finally, A St. John’s Red-tail Sighting

I had almost given up hope of finding one of the fledglings again, when I got a call from James O’Brien on Saturday afternoon saying that one of the fledglings was at 115th and Morningside Drive in a tree just inside the park. James had seen the fledgling catch and eat two rodents.

When I arrived things had quieted down, but the fledgling did move about from tree to tree every so often. I saw the fledgling go after a squirrel and a pigeon without success before loosing the fledgling as it flew east past Fredrick Douglas Boulevard around 112th Street.

Thanks to James for the phone call!