Other Birds

West Harlem Piers Park Canvasbacks

A pair of Canvasbacks were found by Linda Pistolesi on Thursday at the north end of West Harlem Piers Park. The continued to be seen on Friday, so I went up to see them. They’re a short walk from the last westbound stop of the M125, so it was an easy transfer from the subway.

I missed them at first and I then went for a walk up in to 150s along the Hudson River. When I came back the Canvasbacks were out of view but quickly came back into view. I learned that they can easily hide among the pilings that protect the west side of the natural gas pipeline building and that I should have been more patient when I first arrived.

The pair spent about 45 minutes diving, then copulated and then rested.

927 5th Avenue Red-tailed Hawks

Octavia on the 927 Fifth Avenue Nest

Octavia was on the 927 Fifth Avenue nest on Tuesday afternoon, and then on 960 Fifth Avenue. She looked great. But it’s hard to know what’s going on. She hasn’t had offspring for a number of years, so I’m not sure she’s interested in having offspring anymore.

It’s late enough in the season that I would have expected that either the 927 Fifth Avenue nest would have been rebuilt or a new nest built, but there looks to be very little activity. Melody Andres saw a new hawk bring a twig to tree near the Levin Playground earlier this week, but it was laid on top of a squirrel’s drey.

So, I have limited expectations for anything to happen this season, but it sure would be nice if I was wrong!

Central Park Coyotes

Owl Rules for Central Park Coyotes?

Yesterday, I discovered one of Central Park Eastern Coyotes in a location that has been used by coyotes on and off for a few years in the spring. I had seen it there a few days earlier and posted a few pictures on Instagram and posted a video on YouTube from yesterday without stating the location. But maybe I shouldn’t have.

Everything was quiet and the coyote was sleeping when I arrived, and I was the only observer. However, the coyote’s location had been posted on twitter, so more and more people started showing up, and you could see the coyote’s ears perk up repeatedly. Our presence was clearly annoying the coyote.

When I started watching a coyote years ago in Hallett Sanctuary, I blogged about the coyote for a month and started a good discussion about how we should treat coyotes that arrive in the park. It ended up with the police, parks and the NYS DEC develop a good policy about what to do about coyotes in Manhattan. At the time Hallett was still locked and not open to the public, so my blogging about the coyote didn’t threaten its welfare.

But times have changed and we now have at least two resident coyotes in the park. Now that they are residents, I realize this morning that it might be time to put “owl rules” in place to avoid any unnecessary harassment of the coyotes. By owl rules, I mean that to protect sleeping birds and animals from being disturbed that we keeping their locations off social media and delay posting photographs of the animals until they have stopped using the den or roost.

Our infatuation with birds and animals can sometimes do more harm than good. So, to be on the safe side, I’m going to take my time from now on and post coyote images a few weeks after they have moved on to new locations.

Eagles, Falcons, Hawks and Osprey

Baker Pavilion Peregrine Falcon Nest Box

On the 26th Floor ledge of Weill Cornell–New York Hospital’s Baker Pavilion is a Peregrine Falcon Nest Box. I’ve seen it on the NYC Bird Alliance cruises for members that explore the harbor in the past, but yesterday I thought it might be fun to see if I could watch it from Roosevelt Island. The box faces the East River and the Baker Pavilion is east of York Avenue at 68th Street.

It turns out you can easily watch it with a spotting scope, although you can’t see inside of it due to the angle.

One Peregrine Falcon was perched on the box when I arrived and made a few trips off the box before returning. At some point the falcon went inside the box and a falcon emerged soon thereafter. It was unclear if it was the same bird, or the falcons are already sitting on eggs and this was an exchange between two birds.

I’m looking forward to watching these birds later in the season.

Owls

Snowy Owl in December of 2024

I went to Governors Island in late December of 2024, hoping to find American Pipit and to see if the Horned Lark flock had stuck around couldn’t find either.

However, I did end up seeing one of my favorite species, a Snowy Owl. I was walking around the south lawn of Discovery Hill looking for pipits and heard a murder of American Crows. One of the crows was dive bombing something. Thinking it might be attacking a Red-tailed Hawk, I quickly ran to see what was being mobbed and was surprised to see a Snowy Owl instead! This was my third N.Y. County Snowy Owl, so I feel really blessed.

There had been a Snowy Owl reported at the Bayonne Golf Club course and the same day nearby at the Ocean Terminal in late November, and then in early December there was a photograph of one posted on social media, perched on top of a barge off Bay Ridge Brooklyn. I had looked for an owl during the Christmas Bird using my scope to look out at the ships and shoreline of Upper New York Harbor without any success and had given up any hope of seeing the owl on Governors Island.

It turns out after talking to some of the birders, who visit the island more frequently than I do, had seen the Snowy Owl on the island on and off since late November. Hats off to them for keeping a roosting owl under the radar. I believe I may have been the last person to see the owl on the island, as it wasn’t reported in January of 2025.

The owl was situated near some bushes and grasses growing which looked exactly like the habit you would see out at Jones Beach. I only had about ten minutes with the owl, before the crows flushed it from its roost. The owl flew west. I couldn’t keep track of it, as I was blocked by bushes on Discovery Hill, but I suspect it flew west off to New Jersey.

In January, a Snowy Owl was found in a few locations, near Liberty Island. I suspect we had the same owl exploring the Upper New York Harbor for a few months.

As I was leaving the area, I saw a rodent bait box which was disconcerting given the number of raptors on the island this winter.

(This post was delayed until I was sure the owl had left the area.)