1/31, Guarding the Cloisters

Late afternoon stroll and nothing of interest in the skies. But wait, what's that on the roofline?

A juvenile red-tailed hawk with nothing to do except protect the museum from the pigeons.

1/23, North Woods Screech Owl

Ms. North Woods has not had a good week. Here's hoping that things improve quickly.

1/18, St. Nick Juvie Red-Tail

This young red-tailed hawk was perched in St. Nicholas Park in the shadow of CCNY's Shepard Hall, about 45 minutes before sunset Monday. Note the very full crop.

Earlier in the weekend, Isolde and Norman, the Morningside red-tails, were seen Saturday not long after sunset, flying along Amsterdam Avenue between St. Luke's Hospital and Columbia's Hamilton Hall. Both briefly perched on Wallach Hall at 115th St. and then were lost to view as the day darkened.

1/10: First Hawk of the Year

Actually not the bird seen here. The above is the second hawk of the year and the pic was taken about 4:30 Sunday afternoon, 20 minutes before sunset.

Some 30-40 minutes earlier I had gotten a three-second look at a red-tail over in the Douglass Houses at Columbus and 104th St. But after 10 minutes of fruitless looking around to see where it flew off to, I continued over to Central Park's Great Hill.

This juvie red-tail was perched on the east side of the hill in the North Woods. It had an excellent view of the slope above the Huddlestone Arch and, if it cared to turned its head, of the hockey game at Lasker Rink. One suspects it was the same young hawk seen on the Great Hill two weeks ago and which may have been hanging about the area for over a month.

Around sunset it perked up and looked ready to move. Sliced, wiped its beak, stretched a little bit.

But then settled back down. There was plenty of ogling of the leaf-covered slope of the hill below. Probably casing the joint for future predation.

Finally, just before 5:00 the youngster decided it was time to go to roost. It looked he was heading for a spot closer to Central Park North and with a better view of Harlem Meer.

1/9: North Woods Screech Owl

Ms. North Woods, cooperatively perching 15 feet from a pathway light.