Urban Hawks

Chuck-Will's-Widow

Judging by the under tail of the bird, we had a female Chuck-Will's-Widow in Central Park today.  A nice surprise on a wonderfully warm spring day.

New Nest Location on Central Park West

The pair that has been trying to build a safely located nest on Central Park West has found a new nest location on top of an air conditioner on between 87th and 88th Street.

A second clutch is unusual for Red-tailed Hawks, although we have seen it in the city before. It will be interesting to see if this pair attempts one this year.

Terence Cardinal Cooke Health Care Center

Terence Cardinal Cooke Health Care Center is at 106th and Fifth Avenue.  This winter I've frequently seen a hawk on top of the building.  I didn't think much of it, since we usually have a few wintering hawks in the north part of the park.

Today, I was surprised to see not one but two hawks on the building.  Before I could get my camera out, the male flew off, circled the hill with the compost heap, and returned to the building and copulated with the female.

My first thought was these could be the Central Park West hawks?  But both seem lighter both in eye color and in chest banding.  The couple looks young.  Anyone seen nest building on upper Fifth Avenue?

Windy and Cold Central Park

On Sunday, I spent most of the day in the park trying to see a Common Redpoll without success.  However, I did have a good time seeing a group of Red-winged Hawks for the first time this year, a very beautiful European Goldfinch (possibly an escapee rather than a wild bird), Owls and the Common Merganser on the Harlem Meer.  While I wasn't trying for a long species list, I did end up with a respectable 37.

180		Canada Goose
3		Wood Duck
57		Mallard
6		Bufflehead
8		Hooded Merganser
1		Common Merganser
2		Ruddy Duck
1		Pied-billed Grebe
2		Double-crested Cormorant
1		Cooper's Hawk
4		Red-tailed Hawk
2		American Coot
18		Ring-billed Gull
1		Great Black-backed Gull
4		Mourning Dove
2		Northern Saw-whet Owl
2		Red-bellied Woodpecker
1		Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
6		Downy Woodpecker
1		Hairy Woodpecker
4		Blue Jay
8		Black-capped Chickadee
33		Tufted Titmouse
6		White-breasted Nuthatch
1		Brown Creeper
74		American Robin
2		European Starling
1		Song Sparrow
23		White-throated Sparrow
2		Dark-eyed Junco
4		Northern Cardinal
7		Red-winged Blackbird
20		Common Grackle
9		House Finch
11		American Goldfinch
1		European Goldfinch
15		House Sparrow

Gull and Owl

I've been packing a simple camera and a spotting scope rather than my regular setup these last two weeks.  I bothered an old knee injury in the snow and need to lighten the weight of my pack.  So, I've been continuing my goal to stay in the top 10 of the Top 100 New York County 2013 list on eBird.org, rather than just follow hawks this year.

Over the last week, this has meant adding a first winter Iceland Gull to my list for the year.  In addition, to the gull this week's fun birds included a Northern Saw-whet Owl.

American Tree Sparrow

An American Tree Sparrow has been hanging around the large woodchip pile in the northern section of Central Park.  Today, it gave me some really nice looks.  The American Tree Sparrow has a bi-colored beak, the top and bottom parts are different.

Carolina Wren

Among many White-throated Sparrows in the Shakespeare Garden of Central Park was this Carolina Wren.  A nice colorful bird for a gray winter day.

Cooper's Hawk and then Pale Male

Despite all of time I've spent looking at owls, I have been keeping an eye out for Pale Male.  Today, I started my birding near Pale Male's nest.  My first views were of a Cooper's Hawk chasing some European Starlings. 

Then Pale Male arrived.  He broke off a tree branch and took it to the nest.  He then perched a little south of the nest on a fence, then a water tank and then a railing.  He kept looking south.  I think his new mate may be spending her time below 72nd Street.

Gray Day

On a gray late Fall day, a visit to Central Park yielded a few Cooper's Hawks, two Barred Owls and a few Red-tailed Hawks.  Let's hope the Barred Owls stay for the Christmas Bird count, Sunday, December 16th.

Eastern Bluebird

A gorgeous Eastern Bluebird was north of Winterdale Arch in Central Park today.  Although it was near lots of fruit trees, it spent its time catching insects from the lawn.  I spent an hour waiting for it to arrive, and was just about to give up before it showed up.  It's nice to have patience rewarded.

Weekend In Central Park

I spent time watching American Crows, waterfowl and American Kestrels on Saturday and watched Pale Male on Sunday. The Harlem Meer had a nice selection of birds, including Buffleheads, Ruddy Ducks, Gadwalls, Mallards, Northern Shovelers, Wood Ducks, and a Mute Swan.

Sandy made a mess of the park, and there are still sections closed. The clean up may take longer than usual as resources are being sent to hard hit areas of NYC rather than Central Park.  Sadly entitled Upper East and West siders are complaining about how they suffered because they can't walk their dogs in the park or use the bypass road in the north of the park, which is now a staging area for the clean up.  Get a life folks!

 

Fall Bird Watching

In the fall, winter birds return to Central Park and drab adults or juveniles confuse birders used to watching brightly colored spring migrants.  On Sunday, my winter bird was a cute Tufted Titmouse.  My confusing birds were a flock of Cedar Waxings, which had only one adult among a number of drap juveniles who were sharing a tree with a number of Mourning Doves.

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds love Central Park's Jewelweed.  There are large patches in various places, but the easiest to get to is in Strawberry Fields on the east side of the lawn.

American BIttern

An American Bittern has been on Turtle Pond since Wednesday.  It was a life bird for me, so I was glad it stuck around.

Red-Breasted Nuthatch

Up by Green's Bench in the North Woods on Saturday, there was a delightful Red-Breasted Nuthatch.  I usually see them lower down in the park and later in the year, so this little bird was a pleasent surprise.

Odds and Ends

Fall migration has started and here are some random images from last Saturday...

Ruby-Throated Hummingbird

Fall Migration is in full swing and Central Park is full of warblers, thrushes, and fly-catchers.  One of the fun migrants is the Ruby-thoated Hummingbird, that loves the necter of the Jewelweed plants in the park.

Red Crossbills, Day 2

On Saturday, I was able to study the Red Crossbills more closely.  The flock made a circuit about every half hour that included trees in the upper lawn area of Shakespeare Garden and a small mud flat in the Upper Lobe.

The Crossbills had a wonderful way of extracting the seeds from the cones.  It was pluck a cone and then, work the cone from the bottom, extract one seed, husk the seed, spin the cone, and repeat until you need to fetch another cone.  It reminded me of how humans eat artichokes!

Red Crossbill

Today, thanks to the excellent birding skills of Jacob Drucker which were followed up on by Anders Peltomaa, many NYC birders got to enjoy a flock of Red Crossbills in Central Park.  The light made photographing them tough, but it was enjoyable to watch them.  The Red Crossbills are a new bird for my life list.

The video has regular and slow motion clips of the Red Crossbills extracting seeds for cones. The Red Crossbills were identified as the Type 3 subspecies using recordings made by Anders Peltomaa, by Matthew Young and Andrew Farnsworth, the flight-call-wizards of Cornell Lab of Ornithology.  This subspecies specializes in smaller and softer cones from trees such as Spruce, Fir and Hemlock.

Kentucky Warbler

Kentucky Warblers are rare in New York City, and their skulking habits make them that much harder to find.  The excellent birders of Central Park have been keeping track of one for three days near the Swedish Cottage.

I was fortunate to see the Kentucky Warbler twice today.  I didn't get any great photographs, but was able to capture enough detail to prove I had seen it!  It was a life bird for me.

Two Types of Grebes

Today was a good day for Grebe watching on the Reservoir.  Today, we had both a fairly rare visitor, a Horned Grebe and a more common visitor a Pied-Billed Grebe.

Pied-billed Grebe in the upper left, with to Ruddy ducks as a size reference in the lower right.

Merlin and Lima

On Saturday, I explored the park looking for raptors.  My first was a Merlin falcon on a water tank on top of the Lincoln Correctional Facility on 110th Street.   It was chased away by a mob of Crows.  Later, I saw a Sharp-shinned Hawk hunting, although it was too fast to photograph.  As I ended my walk, I saw the female Red-tailed Hawk, Lima on a 5th Avenue building around 77th Street.

American Wigeon

While the abundance of birds in the park seemed small, there were surprises.  The best for me was a new species of duck for my Central Park list, an American Wigeon.

(The mark on the bird's right rear neck, seemed to either be feathers out of place or an injury rather than a field mark.)

Yellow-breasted Chat

I've been out of town, but have returned and I was able to spend a few hours in Central Park this afternoon.  Here are some pictures of a very shy Yellow-breasted Chat who was the highlight of my afternoon.

Sora Continues

The Sora continues to be seen on Turtle Pond.  It is seen in the early mornings and briefly in the late evenings.  It's been a joy to see a little more of this very secretive bird each day.

More Glimpes On Sunday Of The Sora

The Sora stayed in the same area of Turtle Pond on Sunday that it had been on Saturday.  It made appearances in the early morning and around 6 p.m.  Great little bird, but it took lots of patience to get just a few looks.

Sora

A Sora was found on the north shore of Turtle Pond this morning.  I got two brief glimpses of the small rail in the early evening.  Below is a slow motion video and a few shots taken in less than favorable light.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Despite spending about six hours in the park this holiday weekend, I only got two brief glimpses of the Fifth Avenue family members.  Both on the Beresford Apartments, one of a fledgling and one of the mother.

The fall migration has started and Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are enjoying the Jewelweed patch in Strawberry Fields.

Wood Duck On Ice

I was walking out of the park around 8 p.m. this evening via The Pond at 59th Street.  Looking out on the ice, I saw a group of Mallards sleeping on the ice, when one of the ducks caught my eye.  It was one of the two Wood Ducks that have been hanging out on The Pond this winter.

After Darkness Falls

I was looking for owls Friday night in the north of Central Park.  The hunt was unsuccessful but I did get to watch the activity that occurs after darkness falls.

Around the Loch and The Pool this means Raccoons and Rats coming out for the night, and ducks figuring out where to sleep for the night. 

What surprised me this evening was a Great Blue Heron that flew in fifteen minutes after dark.  While each winter, a sighting of a Great Blue Heron in The Loch, especially when most surounding water bodies are frozen isn't unusual, it always surprises me.