"Wild in New York" Premiere Tonight @ Anthology Film Archive

Im a little late on this, but one of my films 'Wild in New York" is premiering tonight at 9pm at the Anthology Film Archive as part of their Bird Week Series.
We shot it in Summer 2008 and has top secret bird footage on it! Q&A session afterward with a Peregrine and Red-tailed Hawk.

pic of rescued eyass @ Bway Bridge, Summer 2008.

More Kestrels

Coughing up a pellet!

Taking off.

Peregrine Sunset

From the tippy top of Riverside Church, this falcon sets up an ambush in the fading light!

St. John's Hawks

Definitely chicks up there, but it might still be a day or two before we can see them. Here's mom taking a nest break.

Aaaaaand we're back!

WTF?!? Ill tell you WTF...gmail and blogger got the ish hacked out of them. Someone or something broke into my gmail and emailed everyone in my address book potentially virus laden spam. As a result, blogger flagged my account as a spammer but within the span of a few hours viola, ish was back like nothing happened.
These are not the droids youre looking for...huzzzah?
So now that I've put the fear of the Chinese in you for ever trusting anything on the internets, here's some more pix from the wonderful world of birds. I give you:
Anatomy of a Peregrine Kill!

Pigeon flies into the hole.

Peregrine flies into hole.

Peregrine surprises pigeon and begins to kill it.
Pigeon cries bloody murder for about 90 seconds.

Peregrine feasts on bird for the next 20 minutes.

The culprit emerges, gore still on his talons!

Morningside Kestrels

Some new friends of mine allowed me access to their roof for some close-up kestrel observations. What I saw tops the list of cool ass kestrel close encounters. The Canon 7D was there for the action (although it did blow a number of close passes and background shots). Still, I was more than satisfied with the results as I did catch a lot of luck with the cloud cover breaking at all the right moments.

Almost There!

The male atop Gabriel.



The female fussing around in the nest alot today. Notice the little bloody article just under her feet.

Cape May, NJ

I have always been told that Cape May, New Jersey is The Bird Mecca of the continental US, and now I know why. In reality, it is a combination of all of my favorite places to bird, for it contains: The lighthouse of Fire Island, the low scrub pines and grasses of Jones Beach, the profusion of shorebirds as in Jamaica Bay, the passerines of Central Park and of course, my personal fave: the Raptors of Hawk Mountain! In the space of a few hours I was immersed in the richness and bounty that is still to be found on the East Coast during Spring and Fall migrations, as birds of one sort or another move on to wherever it is they go.
A meandering Osprey.





A Broadwinged Hawk emerged out of a kettle of Turkey Vultures!

One of a number of American Kestrels.

Peepers in the thousands!



Bluebirds


Nesting in an old woodpecker hole, at the edge of the grasslands.

And as always, the wandering Osprey...birds of my dreams!

Everyone's Doin It!

What I like about the pair bonding of raptors is the uncomplicated distinction between the pair roles in creating territory, defending it and raising young. The male hunts while the female nests, and when there is a threat, the male defends. Here is the Riverside female issuing her territorial E-Chuk! call as the male comes out and then attacks some unseen intruder (my guess is the plucky Osprey that's been making trips from CP to the West Side).


While the Morningside Kestrels follow the same pattern. It is the female who call the male to mate, and he who hunts for that priviledge. Here is the female coming out of their nesting cavity to receive her prize!





Cant wait for those little chickies!!!