Thursday, February 04, 2010

Harlem Eagle

Since the opening of the Harlem Piers I have always appreciated its close views of Hudson River bird traffic, all the while knowing that Bald Eagles sometimes ply these fish rich waters. While last year I had those amazing canvasbacks, no luck with Eagles. So today, as I was about to head into Fairway, I scanned the rough ice and to my surprise, found a bald eagle in almost complete adult plumage. As Murphy and his Godforsaken law would have it, I was without my camera. I ran back to get my camera with surprising adrenaline. The trip back was not as easy...but to my great relief, the Eagle remained.

The gulls gave it a wide birth, but remained on the fringes. After some time, it lit out over the ice, in great broad strokes,

making its way over Riverbank State Park, where it was harassed by crows!


After working still farther north, the resident redtails came in for a few close passes, but it was so far off the pix arent really worth posting. The two hawks did pair up and work their way down past me.

Its the male that was in the CCNY nest and the large female with dark eyes that's always hunting over the Dwyer. Reminder, the 5th Annual Hawk Walk is next Sunday (weather permitting).

PS Here's a great article about Eagles returning to Manhattan!

8 comments:

Robert said...

It's not clear from your post, or the EXIF data on your pix what time you saw the eagle. But there was a baldie off Inwood this a.m. about 9:30. Same bird perhaps?

yojimbot said...

2-3 PM.

Anonymous said...

Fantastic catch!

Anonymous said...

This is fabulous. Thanks for the pix. Baldie knows a good river when he sees one.

Anonymous said...

I believe I saw the same Bald Eagle flying above W. 158 & RSD, out over the Hudson toward the Jersey side...I knew it was an Eagle! I pulled over to try and take a photo but no way could my phone capture a decent shot. I was awestruck. I've been talking about this for a month - thanks for backing me up! Yay!

Anonymous said...

I saw the bald eagle by the Cloisters yesterday morning too....hovering just off the wall not 15 feet from me. He danced around for a few minutes before heading up the Hudson. Went back this morning but no luck...almost mythic birds here when I was a kid and now....damn....magic...

thanks so much!

yojimbot said...

Thanks so much for your comment. Im going up tomorrow to try to find them...what time approx was your sighting?

Anonymous said...

Cloisters sighting was about 8:30-9am - just by the Northernmost lookout/bench spot just below and to the West of the Cloisters before the path descends down to Dyckman street.

Good luck....I'm always looking now too! :)