A Barred Owl was found in the Ramble today, most likely the same owl seen the Friday before last. It was fairly active before fly out, flying from branch to branch in a small area. After dark, it moved to trees closer to a large lawn. I was able to track it for about 45 minutes after fly out.
I was hoping to hear a few calls, but the owl was absolutely quiet.
The North Woods Eastern Screech-Owl seems to have settled down and is staying in her newly found cavity. She was very quiet tonight only calling once.
Yet another roosting location for the Eastern-Screech Owl. This one seems "just right", although a few robins might disagree by the sound of them.
I didn't have a chance to post these until today. They are of the remaining Eastern Screech-Owl in the park. She was calling non-stop again, although we only found her after fly out. She's mixing up roosts yet again!
She appeared to be eating buds at the top of a tree for a few mintues. It's hard to know if she's eating the buds or insects on the buds.
I got to spend a relaxed evening with the park's Eastern Screech-Owl this evening. She was very relaxed and flew out to a low tree trunk only ten feet from me this evening. I try not to get that close, but if she comes to me, I'll take advantage of it!
She was also quiet. Her spring hormones must have subsided, as she is no longer calling and calling. Her "Only"ness, as one of my readers described her recent situation, is troubling for all of us who know why she is alone. She is the soul survivor of the misguided and politically motivated, reintroduction program called Project X.
Tonight, she regurgitated a pellet, which had the partial remains of a white footed mouse.
At least one Long-eared Owls continues to be in the park. It was sleeping when I arrived, ignoring the young adults smoking pot on the nearby hill!
I ran into a longtime friend and a photographer who I had never met before. I helped them find the owl, since it was difficult to locate.
The "new to birding" photographer asked me questions about camera equipment non-stop. I didn't have the heart to say, "It's not the equipment stupid" but wanted to. If you want to be a birding photographer, don't worry about your equipment. Getting a good kit together is easy.
Today, most birding photography is rather soulless. Most photographers are obsessed with the perfect details in the perfect light. These photographs are like yearbook pictures, perfectly boring.
Captivating pictures tell you something about the bird's behavior or environment. To do that, you've got be part birder, part naturalist and lastly a photographer.
So, if you want to ask me questions, don't ask me about hardware. Ask me about when the light is good, what I'm discovering about the bird's behavior today, what moment I'm trying to capture, etc. If you don't study the bird and figure out what's special about it, how can you take a great picture of it?
Long-eared Owls continue to be seen in Central Park. Two were visible on Saturday in a tree south of their last location. It was great to see them again.
On Saturday, a group of bird watchers stood carefully across the road from the nest site and observed the park's Eastern Screech-Owl. The group was wonderfully handled by a NYC Urban Park Ranger. They kept their distance from the owl, were quite and didn't disturb her in the least. Her ears stayed flat the whole time the group watched them.
A few hearty souls quietly followed her after fly out and were rewarded by getting to see her preen and call.
The North Woods Eastern Screech-Owl continued her calling this evening. She ventured up to the Great Lawn to advertise her availability.
Before fly out she did some grooming, and there were a few frames of video that clearly showed she is banded.
While she is doing all of this calling, I certainly hope Dr. Robert DeCandido does not lead an "Owl Tour" and play his Screech-Owl tapes. She certainly doesn't need to be confused by Birding Bob as she looks for a mate.
First, apologies for anthropomorphizing in my last post and saying the owl in the North Woods was lonely. She's clearly just advertising her availability. Calling her lonely is just me projecting my concern that she won't be able to find a mate.
Last night she called at least three hours. I gave up watching her at that point, as my feet were near frozen! She called constantly pausing between calls from 15 seconds to 3 minutes. She's clearly making sure any nearby male will find her!
For those who don't know the history of Eastern Screech-Owls in Central Park, they were reintroduced into the park about ten years ago. The program didn't result in reestablishing a self sustaining population. Deaths due to car traffic may have tipped that balance against the owls, but there were other factors as well, poisons, geographic isolation, cavity contention with squirrels and other birds, etc.
So, Central Park now has an owl who has a low chance of finding a mate. Moving her would be politically difficult and introducing a mate would just perpetuate an unproductive situation even longer.
That said, I will miss watching owls raise their offspring in the park.
Tonight was bitter sweet. The park's resident Screech-Owl was back in a spot she has used more frequently in the fall. She looked great and I was happy to see her in good health. (Screech-owls generally switch between a few cavities to roost, and I haven't been able to find her alternative locations over the past few weeks.)
After fly out, she called almost immediately and continued to call for over an hour. When I left she was still calling. Now is the time she would normally be starting to brood, but without a mate she was just calling and calling.
The three Long-eared Owls are continuing to roost in Central Park. Tonight after a very warm day, high winds at dusk made owl watching and photography difficult. Most of my exposures at fly out are about half a second long, so I had blurry picture after blurry picture! Lucky some made the cut.
A group of four owls was found rousting in an Austrian Pine on Cherry Hill on Saturday morning. When I arrived in the afternoon, only three were visible.
A squirrel decided to harass the owls, soon after I arrived. It broke off small branches with pine needles and dropped them on the owls. Eventually, the squirrel got two owls to move to other trees. One to a tree in the open, and one to another nearby pine tree.
News of these owls has spread, so I'm posting these pictures. If you go see these owls, remember that they are day sleepers with very good hearing. Let them get some shut eye, if you visit them.
Long-eared Owls (LEO) are a special treat in Central Park. They sometimes are found during spring and fall migration, but usually they arrive mid-winter for a few weeks when there is dense snow further north.
This Long-eared Owl was very accommodating. It was in a section of a tree without too many branches near its perch. It spent about a week in the same tree and has now moved on.
As we curse all of the recent snow, remember that it can bring Long-eared Owls to Central Park, Bald Eagles to Fort Tryon and Inwood Hill parks (there have been sightings this week), and Hawks to various backyards and fire escapes thought the city.
(These pictures are from January 27th. I delayed posting them to protect the Long-eared Owl. It was in a very public place, and would have been harassed if news about its location had been made public.)
After using an alternate cavity for a few days, the park's last Eastern Screech-Owl was sunning in her usual spot today. She flew out fairly late and slowly moved through the North Woods. We were able to track her for thirty minutes and about 250 yards.
On Saturday, my late afternoon visit to Central Park started with a Peregrine Falcon on top of the southern tower of The Eldorado on Central Park West.
It ended with my standard visit to the North Wood's Eastern Screech-Owl. I got a glimpse at what might be a band on her, although it was hardly certain.
For the last year, I've not had any sign that this owl is banded. This one still frame from the video makes me feel she might be banded.
After a week where it was difficult to find her, and where a tree was removed very close to her cavity, she was out sunning when I arrived on Christmas afternoon.
After being very quiet the last few nights I've seen her, she was very vocal tonight. A wonderful Christmas gift for me!
The annual Central Park Christmas Bird Count was on Sunday. It's a great event that brings together the Urban Park Rangers, the Parks Department, Audubon NYC and lots of amateur birders to take a census of the birds wintering in the park.
After a series of bad weather counts with snow, rain or bitterly cold temperatures, this count had enjoyable, if chilly weather.
The day before, I looked for the two unusual birds that have been around, the Varied Thrush and a young Red-Headed Woodpecker (which at this age, has yet to get a red head.) Along the way I had nice looks at a Cooper's hawk.
On Sunday, I joined the Northeast team. Highlights for me were a Carolina Wren and young Red-tailed Hawk at Mount Sinai Hospital. After our counting was done, our team saw a Merlin in the Northwest team's area, I saw a young Red-tail being harrased by Pale Male at 63rd and Fifth, and at dusk I watched the park's surviving Eastern Screech-Owl's fly out.
The count had 62 species of birds, including birds from the count week. There are lots of birds in Central Park, even in the winter! The count had 11 Red-tailed Hawks, 9 Cooper's Hawks, 2 Merlins, 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk, 1 Peregrine Falcon, and 1 Eastern Screech-Owl.
These photographs and videos are from mid-week. I wasn't able to find this owl this weekend. I think she's changed cavities.
Same old, same old, which is just great.
It was cold enough that she only came out at dusk, rather than sitting up in the cavity earlier, as she does when it is warmer. But other than that it was a fairly normal fly out.
Seeing a Northern Saw-whet Owl in Central Park is a real treat. Only a few are seen during migration and they only seem to be one day guests of the park, so actually seeing one takes patience.
Today, the Central Park birding community helped me out. Rebekah Creshkof found the owl, told a friend who got me to the general area of the bird, and then another pair of birders helped me find the right tree.
What may be the last Eastern Screech-Owl in Central Park, continues to captivate me. She was lower in the cavity today, something that makes sense given the colder weather.
The Eastern Screech-Owl continues in her favorite cavity. While I was watching her, a few birders stood very close to her. (A good sign that she's annoyed is that she puts her ears up.)
When visiting her in the afternoon, please give her some space. Most of us have expensive binoculars. Let's use them! How would you like it if someone came into your bedroom and started staring at you!
In addition to this owl, the park had a Northern Saw-whet owl last week, and has a Great-Horned Owl now.
More Eastern Screech-Owls photos...
Tonight is the last day, I can owl or hawk watch during the week. After this weekend, we'll be back on Eastern Standard Time, and it will be dark when I leave work.
One of the joys of late Fall in New York City is the ability to relocate owls that during the warmer months easily hide in tree tops during the day.
What may be the last remaining Eastern Screech-Owl in Central Park, was found again now that the weather is colder.
Eastern Screech-Owls have been reintroduced to Central Park over the last twelve years. I've enjoyed monitoring them over the last five years.
This winter some friends and I kept track of what we believe is the last surviving pair from the reintroductions. Unfortunately, just after the pair started nesting, they lost their cavity to two squirrels and the male owl disappeared and is presumed dead.
The female continues to stay in the area. Each night she calls to advertise her availability to other owls, but no one answers.
A Great Horned Owl was in Central Park on Monday. It was unclear if it was a returning guest from a few weeks ago or a new bird. I found it around 6:30 p.m. and was able to keep track of it for over an hour. It flew to various trees along the Lake's shoreline from the Indian Caves to the Oven. The owl seemed to go wherever there were groups of quacking ducks.
(This post was delayed for a few days to protect the Great Horned Owl. A few weeks ago, the fly outs turned into nightly circuses, disturbing the previous Great Horned Owl. So, it seemed appropriate to delay the news for the comfort of the bird. However, one day in Central Park seemed to be enough for this individual. It has not been seen since Monday.)
