Urban Hawks

The three owls were close together this evening.  The fly out was fairly normal, except that Herringbone went immediately towards the nest cavity, and was chased by an American Robin.  The owl was mobbed for a bit, and then ask it got darker, the robins all became quiet.

Herringbone, who I think is the male went into the cavity.  Soon a screaming bird, which sounded like a European Starling, left the hole!  Owls 1 – Starlings 0!  The male then left the cavity.  By this time, the female arrived and took a turn inside the cavity.  Both were in nearby trees but then we lost them.

Chris and Fig were with me tonight.

Jean and I were the two regulars on Sunday, plus we had a few locals.  The temperature was cool, so the park was relatively quiet.

I arrived around 7:30 pm. to find the Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk in the Willow with the three owls!  The Red-tail was too busy chasing Robins to see them, but it did have me worried.  It went all around The Pool, and ended up landing on the Willow three times.

The three owls were much harder to find in the tree than usual tonight.  I couldn’t locate the third one until it flew out for the evening.  They landed on a nearby tree and were off before I could get some solid pictures.  They quickly moved 150 feet north, and we lost track of them.  I bet they wanted to move away from the area, just in case the Red-tail was still around.

Other trees are starting to be fully leafed out near the Willow.  I wonder how many days, we’ll still have with them roosting out in the open in Willow.

Chris joined me this evening, as well as some locals from the neighborhood this evening. 

One couple told us about an Eastern Screech-Owl that was on their windowsill at 1 a.m. about three weeks ago.  They live on Central Park West.  This is consistent with research done after the initial reintroduction of the owls into the park and our experiences last year.  However, it always surprises me when I hear these stories.

Tonight after the fly out, we watched one of the owls hunt a rodent.  I think the owl missed, but it was a wonderful sight to see.   (It happened too quickly for photographs however.)

I’ve been photographing three Eastern Screech-Owls for about five weeks.  As I did last year, I’ve waited to release these photographs until after the owls had left their nest cavity and are now sleeping in high tree branches.

Despite my fears this winter that there were no Eastern Screech-Owls left in the Central Park, on Monday, not only did I see the three owls I’ve been studying but also a new adult bringing my count for the day to four.