Urban Hawks

August 6, 2006December 25, 2020927 5th Avenue Red-tailed Hawks, Other Animals, Other Birds

Couldn’t Find What I Was Looking For. . .

I went birding on Sunday in hopes of finding the St. John the Divine hawks or the 1st Year Red-tailed hawk, Ben Cacace and Lincoln Karim have been seeing in Central Park. I didn’t find either of them.

I did see some old favorites however, the Red Squirrel (the only one in Central Park), Lola, the female Red-tailed Hawk from the 5th Avenue nest, who was on the NE tower of the Beresford keeping an eye on a Kestrel pair on the SE tower, and the two young Green Herons.

August 5, 2006December 20, 2020Other Birds

Green Herons Have Grown Up Fast

My knee is improving, so I went into Central Park for the first time in about two weeks. The fall migration has started and warblers are starting to return to the park. In my brief outing in the park, I saw a Yellow Warbler, an American Redstart and two Northern Waterthrushes.

The Green Heron young have left the nest, and I found two of them feeding with a parent in a tree 20 feet south of the nest and along the shoreline of the lake. Having been away for two weeks, I’m not sure if we’ve lost another young heron, or if one of the birds has already fledged and has begun to feed on its own.

Adult in the middle with fledgling below and one just visible behind the adult.

July 25, 2006Other Birds

Green Heron Chick

I’m sorry to report that smallest of the Green Heron hatchlings has died. Cal Vornberger, the gifted wildlife photographer and author/photographer of Birds of Central Park, witnessed the death and has a compelling set of photographs on his blog, www.calvorn.com. Cal has put together a slide show of the photographs at http://www.calvorn.com/herons.html.

July 23, 2006December 20, 2020St. John/Columbia Red-tailed Hawks

Sunday Afternoon at Morningside Park

On Sunday afternoon, the weather cleared and I made a visit to Morningside Park. The two fledglings were found playing with sticks at the southern edge of the park. Stick play is common for fledglings of this age and prepares them for hunting and killing prey.

The fledglings moved from tree to tree along 110th Street and lower Morningside Drive for over an hour. Although, we didn’t witness any feedings there was a large pile of fresh pigeon feathers beneath a tree near the southern children’s play area.

July 22, 2006December 20, 2020St. John/Columbia Red-tailed Hawks

St. John Fledgling

On late Saturday afternoon, there was a break between rain storms to go up to St. John the Divine. The fledglings are now good fliers, so finding them is difficult. I found one at the top of a tree 20 feet inside Morningside park, east of the nest site on the Cathedral.

While looking for the second fledgling, I saw one of the fledglings, not sure which one, soaring from 110th Street up to 118th Street above Morningside Drive. It was an impressive sight.

Last year, the Central Park South fledglings learned to hunt before they took off and started to soar high with their father staying close by. So, I wasn’t expecting to see a high flying St. John the Divine fledgling flying this high so early on. I keep being reminded that each nest and fledgling is different.

July 22, 2006December 27, 2020Other Birds

Rainy Saturday

It’s been raining in New York, so I was unable to go out birding on Friday. Today, there was a small window between rain showers to see how the Green Herons were doing. The hatchlings seem to be doing just fine, spending most of their time sleeping.