Urban Hawks

The park continues to have good Owl viewing. One of the Great Horned Owls in the park spent over 70 minutes relaxing over Turtle Pond on Monday evening. What a delight to watch an owl so late after fly out.

My afternoon visit to Central Park on Sunday, yielded a large number of raptors and owl. I had 1 Juvenile Bald Eagle, 1 Red-shouldered Hawk in flight over the Ramble, 4 Red-tailed Hawks, 2 Great Horneds, 1 Barred, 1 American Kestrel and 1 Peregrine Falcon in the space of a few hours.

The resident Great Horned Owl has been moving around the park these last few weeks. Late fall is an interesting time for Owl watching in the park. As more and more trees leave their leaves, the choice of roosts ends up switching from day to day. Finding the owl, you know is in the park becomes a game of Where’s Waldo?

This last Friday, a Northern Saw-whet Owl was high in a tree in the Pinetum. There have been two earlier reports of Saw-whets in the park in the last week or so, and it is unclear if this is the same bird or we have a wave of migrates coming through.

The Central Park’s resident Great Horned Owl, continues to delight the park’s birders. The last few weeks have been especially nice, as the owl has been easier to watch. There are fewer trees with leaves remaining, so it has been perching lower and in more open postions.