3/19, Central Park North Meadow & Great Hill

A friend relayed a report the other day of a birdwatcher recently encountering five juvenile red-tailed hawks being spotted in the north end of Central Park. That sounded pretty amazing, especially at this time of year. But Thursday at lunch time, I apparently encountered them all in the space of an hour. An adult hawk made it a half dozen sightings.

First half decent pictures were of a juvenile flailing about in an evergreen treetop by the 96th St. transverse close to the west loop road.

Initially it seemed that the hawk might be trying to hold something down while it pulled pieces off to eat, but then I wondered if it was trying to get at something inside the foliage.

Then something swooped out of the sky, and the juvie hawk tore out of the tree and headed toward the North Meadow.

And then I realized there were multiple hawks circling around over the North Meadow Recreation Center. They kept at it long enough that I was eventually able to determine that there were three of them. Were a pair of adults trying to chase the juvenile out of the area?

Well, there was a juvenile with a damaged right-6 feather in its tail.

And a juvenile whose tail feathers looked undamaged.

Ah, and one adult.

And then poof, all three were gone, scattering to points east.

Well, that was exciting, but now it was time to head back toward the office.

But on the southeast flank of the Great Hill there was another juvenile perched on a tall stump.

On top of a squirrel on top of a tall stump.

But not eating. Just looking around.

While I was watching this juvenile, another hawk sped north just beyond the trees around the rim of the Great Hill. Well, one more picture and move on.

But 100 yards up the loop road was another juvenile red-tail perched on a tall stump.

Looks small, so probably a boy hawk.

While I maneuvered to get closer to this juvie, the one that had flown by a few minutes ago flew back and landed in a nearby tree, but then took off before I could get my camera in position. So that makes five juvie hawks spotted between the 96th St. Transverse and the Great Hill.

A couple more shots of juvie #4, who had changed trees.

And when he made his exit, so did I.

3/17, Central Park North Woods

For all the attention on hawk nests lately, there are still some juvenile red-tails lurking about Manhattan. I ran into one of them hunting near the Block House in Central Park's North Woods late Tuesday.

Very actively hunting. Take your eye off him for one second, and bang, he's around the hill and out of sight.

2/22, St. John the Divine & the CP North Woods

Friday I mentioned seeing evidence of hawk nesting activity at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, but no adult hawks. Saturday night, Betty Wasserman, a member of the staff at St. Luke's hospital, across the street from St. John's, shared some photos she had recently taken of two adult red-tails perching at the hospital.

Apparently the pair have had a habit of perching on the screen on the east end of St. Luke's, overlooking Morningside Drive and Morningside Park, many days around lunch time.

So despite all the noise and dirt and disruption going on with the apartment building under construction in the northeast corner of the cathedral grounds, the hawks have not given up on the area. It does remain a question as to exactly where they will nest, the signs suggesting that they are working on a new nest not far from the old one. However, the new site is where they were collecting sticks last spring, and then they used the old nest anyway.

But the extra factor is that the female hawk is new. Last year's hawk mother died of frounce in June. Looking at the photos above, I think the hawk at left is the new female, but with both fluffed up in the cold weather, it's hard to tell.

Sunday afternoon I checked on the area to see if I might catch the two hawks perching at the hospital, but no luck. After a look around the area, I strolled over to the northwest corner of Central Park. There I did find an adult hawk, most probably one of the cathedral pair, and I think likely the new female.

Over a period of about fifteen minutes, she led me on a tour from the Block House to the Great Hill and back into the Ravine. Best looks lasted about five minutes when she perched near the loop road on the sunny side of the Great Hill.

Check out the belly band and the color on the breast. She's darker than past hawks at the cathedral. Assuming the male is still Norman, it should be relatively easy to tell them apart based on their coloring.

This adult was a bit shy, as I never got within 50 feet of her before she would move to another location. Finally, she took off toward Lasker Rink and I lost her.

2/17, Central Park North Woods

Tuesday at the end of the day, I poked my head into the northwest corner of Central Park and found two juvenile red-tailed hawks lurking in the trees not far south of the Block House.

The first, with light-colored head feathers and likely a female, was initially perched 25 or 30 feet above ground level.

Although she looked unlikely to go anywhere, after 8-10 minutes, she moved down the branch a bit.

Perched for another minute or two.

And then took off toward the Block House. Heading that direction I found a juvenile red-tail perched high up a tree, but it was smaller (a male) and its head feathers not so dark. Ah, and there was the female 10-12 feet along on the same branch. Both looked like they were digesting late meals and ready to go to roost anytime.

But despite the apparent friendliness of the two hawks, when the female flew down the branch toward the male, he scrambled out of there and found a protected perch not far away.

Sunset and the evening cold loomed, and I made my exit to get dinner.

2/8, Central Park Pool & Ravine

Late on one of the grayest Sunday afternoons you can imagine, I found two young red-tailed hawks in the northwest of Central Park.

One juvie was first seen flying back and forth over the Pool at 102nd St.

He headed east into the Ravine area. When I found a red-tail perched over there, I began to think, this isn't where that guy was headed. And then for a few seconds, there was a view of one hawk flying away farther northeast while one stayed put.

The second was apparently digesting a meal.

And watching the joggers pass by on the Glen Span Arch below.

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.

7/19, Do You Know This Hawk?

Late Saturday afternoon, Ranger Rob from the Parks Department rescued a juvenile red-tailed hawk near the tennis courts in Central Park at about 96th St. Word is that was thin and weak, but no word as to whether it was because of disease or simply hunger.

(Photo by Jean Shum)

Because the nest at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine is one of the closest nests to the location, and because no one I know has definitely seen both of the healthy cathedral juvies in over a week, initial suspicion was that was a cathedral bird.

But comparison of this photo and others of the rescuee to those of the young red-tails at the cathedral has suggested it is not from the cathedral. You'll note that the bird shown here has a "dog collar" of dark feathers around his neck. Of the two healthy kids at the cathedral, one may have a wispy, barely noticeable such collar and the other no collar at all.

So where did this juvenile hawk come from?

The Riverside nest may be closer to where this hawk was found, but the single juvenile there was seen in Riverside around the 83rd St playground late in the week. And no one has said anything about the trio from Palemale's nest by Central Park wandering north.

1/12, Central Park, North

A stroll into the north end of Central Park late Sunday afternoon revealed two red-tailed hawks with minimal effort. A juvenile was hunting by the Pool, and while it was lurking there, an adult circled over the Great Hill a few times.

The juvie progressively changed perches before circling about over the Ravine and then disappearing towards Lasker Rink. While the juvie was leaving, the adult appeared again, circled about ten or twelves times in the sunset light before it too exited, apparently to go perch atop the Cardinal Cooke building.

3/17, A Juvie by the Pool and a Cathedral Note

Sunday hawkwatching looked to be almost a bust. I tried to check on two new Manhattan red-tailed hawk nest sites but had no luck finding either.

Late in the day as I was packing it in, I ran across a juvenile red-tail just south of the Pool in Central Park.

He was doing some head-bobbing, although whether it was because he was hunting or he was staring down all the little birds chirping about his presence it was hard to say.

The skies were gray and the day seemed over. But as I was heading up the hill to Morningside Heights, I was startled to spot a Cooper's Hawk in Morningside Park, perched just across the street from the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.

And speaking of the cathedral, what about the red-tail nest there? Well, it turns out that it's in use and the female is brooding. James reported Friday that he could see the tips of some tail feathers poking above the lip of the nest. I saw the same late Sunday, but it turned out that earlier in the day, James had also seen a nest break. It seems the season at the cathedral nest has started a week early this year.

3/10, The New Neighbors, and an Unexpected Encounter

It seems another pair of red-tailed hawks have taken a liking to Central Park. Bruce reported a couple weeks ago that two adult birds were scouting nesting sites along Central Park West in the 90s. They're definitely still in the area, although where they're actually building a nest remains in question.

On a scrumptious Sunday afternoon, I headed over to Central Park and began looking about for the new birds. First caught a glimpse of one flying through the trees at 96th St. near CPW, then five minutes later another carrying a stick toward somewhere around 93rd St. Another look at a hawk heading toward the Eldorado at 90th St. Finally some good overhead soaring.

And yes, both birds, high up and enjoying the afternoon air.

And then it seemed they disappeared behind the Eldorado and gone from sight.

Aside from one brief sighting around 94th St., there was no sign of the duo for the next 20 minutes. But as I was thinking of heading north toward the cathedral, they re-appeared, soared about some more, and headed toward the Eldorado. The female alit first, on the north tower, while the male soared about a bit longer.

It seemed he had mating in mind, but as he made his move, the female took off. They ended up perched separately on the two towers of the Eldorado, the female on the south and the male on the north.

At 5:30, both took off to the south and out of view. Uh-oh. I hope they weren't going south to pick a fight with Palemale or his mate.

It was 5:30 and I still wanted to visit Morningside Park and the cathedral to see if Isolde and her new male were about. They were seen mating along 114th St. on Saturday, so I knew they're around.

But I never made it there.

Heading up the Great Hill, I saw a red-tail soaring around. A juvenile. Then at the top of the hill, a large shape perched in a tree just 50-60 feet off the road. The juvie? Hmmm, the bird seemed a bit small for a hawk and it seemed to be wearing... a hoodie?

Oh, my. A barred owl!

Out in plain view in front of God and everybody, a full hour before sunset.

No blue jays or other harassment except for one tufted titmouse who briefly chirped at him.

Well, this being an owl and it not yet being sunset, he wasn't in an active mode. Some 50 minutes later, he was in the same spot, still alternating between light snoozing and slowly looking around.

And dang, I'd love to stay for fly out, but Sunday dinner does not wait when someone else is doing the cooking.