1/28, Perching on Ellington Circle

Not much to report this weekend. I wasn't feeling well on Saturday so didn't try any hawkwatching that day. Today I was as usual slow to get over to the park, so it was 3:30 before I made my way in through the West 103rd St. entrance. At least the days are getting longer, so I had halfway okay light for an hour.

A hawk sighting came 10-12 minutes later near the Wildflower Meadow when I realized that the lowest bird amongst the cloud of gulls and/or terns circling overhead to the east was a little too large. Got the glasses out and confirmed that it was a hawk, then ran across the loop road to the Compost Hill to watch as the hawk soared off to the north. It alit on an antenna 35 stories up, on the southeast tower of the Schomburg Plaza apartments on Duke Ellington Circle.

I took a few pictures from Nutter's Battery and along the shore of Harlem Meer. But at a distance of 900 feet horizontal and 345 vertical, the pic at right was about the best I was going to get. (Click for larger version.) The photos all suggest that the hawk was keeping an eye on the east rather than watching over the Meer.

By 4:05 I was back over by Lasker Rink and began making my way the hill into the North Woods. No luck finding any hawks there, although some persistent alarm-like chirping in one area had me looking around for quite some time. Looked back over toward Ellington Circle at 4:25 and saw that the hawk there had taken off. Then I headed down toward West 86th St. but saw no sign of the "ringer" who has been roosting there.