Urban Hawks

August 16, 2006December 20, 2020Other Birds

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are back in the park. These pictures were taken on Wednesday evening in the Wildflower Meadow of Central Park’s North Woods.

August 15, 2006December 20, 2020Other Birds

Tuesday evening, I got a new hybrid for my Central Park list, a Lawrence’s Warbler, which is a Blue-Winged/Golden Winged Warbler hybrid. The Blue-Winged/Golden Winged Warbler hybrids are discussed in great detail in the Warblers book in the Peterson Field Guide series. The book has a great set of color plates that many Central Park birders have cut out and bound into a light weight, illustrated Warbler guide. If you can buy the book used, buy two, one to keep as a reference and one to cut up for the plates.

The Yellow Warblers are still being as photogenic as ever. I can’t stop posting them!

August 13, 2006December 20, 2020927 5th Avenue Red-tailed Hawks

Pale Male Catches And Eats A Mouse

Warning Graphic Content! If you’re not interested in seeing a mouse get caught and eaten, you might want to view these pictures of Pale Male from Friday.

Pale Male patiently waited in a tree branch on Sunday evening for supper to arrive near Cleopatra’s Needle.

I was pleased to see the photographers who watch Pale Male regularly, made sure he had an unobstructed flight path to his common hunting areas.

After hunting too fast for me to capture the kill, he jumps up on a low hanging tree branch bringing a few blades of grass along with his prey.

He takes about ten minutes to consume the mouse.

At the end, he swallows what’s left in one huge gulp.

He then used a number of tree branches as “toothpicks” to clean his beak.

August 13, 2006December 20, 2020Other Birds

Sunday Warblers

Central Park had lots of warbler sightings on Sunday, eighteen species and one hybrid. I had slept in on Sunday and missed photographing all but two species, a Black-and-white and a Yellow. Luckily, a Yellow Warbler gave me some wonderful poses among some flowers in the Wildflower meadow, so I still had a fun afternoon.

August 12, 2006December 20, 2020Other Birds

Yellow Warbler

Just north of Wagner Cove, along the lake, a few Yellow Warblers have been seen the past few days. I counted four on Saturday afternoon. They are a sure sign that fall migration has begun.

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!