1/1, Central Park Pool

Although I got into Central Park later than I'd hoped on a clear New Year's Day afternoon, the first raptor sighting of the year came within five minutes and lasted a good long while. A juvenile red-tailed hawk was lurking in a tree by the south side of the Pool.

He didn't seem to be hunting and was showing no sign of going anywhere. Eventually I wandered off to check around the North Woods and Fort Clinton for any other hawks who might be around. No luck.

Back at the Pool a half hour later, I found the juvie red-tail still in place. But soon he started hopping around, moving from brach to branch and migrating slowly down the tree.

Numerous passers-by and dogwalkers stopped to check out the hawk, who was now down to a branch just 20 feet off the ground. He had started regularly ogling the ground directly below.

And finally, right about sunset, he dropped all the way to the ground. Aha, the remains of a squirrel. The hawk's desire for some seconds was stronger than his nervousness about the human spectators.

But after a few minutes when someone approached with an off-leash dog, the hawk grabbed up the carcass and buzzed away over the pond to a more private spot.