Mount Loretto

The cicadas are long since gone as is the swallow-tailed kite that fed upon them. What remains is a very tranquil and serene location that has successfully withstood Sandy's brutal impact. First and foremost was this fledgling yellow billed cuckoo! I heard its baby cuckoo call and tracked it to just over the walk-way by the entrance to the park. Soon after I both heard and saw many red-winged blackbirds and yellow warblers. There were also lots of tree and barn swallows. Eventually an osprey flew over along the coast and then these two eastern kingbirds appeared. There were also alot of common terns and black-backed gulls. But the surprise of the day was a huge colony of bank swallows! I also saw a few killdeer nesting and one local reported there are occasionally sea turtles that come there to nest as well. All in all a very special and unique place that I hope stays just as it is. On the ferry I noticed that the terns were using the wake of the boat to hunt fish stirred up by the ship's propeller. The black-backed gulls were doing it too!

Kestrel Fledges

Been a while since my last post due to the fact that I was still filming and editing. This time its a followup to the 117th st. kestrel nest. We had 4 successful fledges there and the neighborhood seems to be intently watching. Here's a montage of them in the scrape then just after fledging.

St. John's Fledges

Now that all have left the nest, I put together a group of clips of their activity. First one is them all together in the nest...its no hard to see how the first one may have slipped out. The second clip is of the accidental fledge, while the third is of his sister preening in 4x. Next is the final fledge on one of the admin buildings of St. Luke's while the last clips are of the first fledge getting fed by mom. Congrats and best of luck!

Almost There...

I really thought there would be a fledge at 5th Ave. today so I ventured over to check it out. Even though this is the first hawk nest in NYC I watched, I've never seen a fledge here. There were a few moments when I thought it would happen, but it didnt occur. However I was treated to some righteous hawk action some of which I captured on video. The best moment was when Pale Male swooped in and caught a robin right near the closed concession stands. He promptly brings it back to the nest in the first clip in the video below. The second clip is of the two eyass fighting over the robin. Next is some flight training prompted by the strong wind. Last is Mom and PM circling above then landing in the nest with a pigeon. Then clip at 25%. Fingers crossed!

Kiku's Bird Adventures

The first and second days out of the nest she spent a lot of time trying to get into windows with ledges. It was clearly looking for some semblance of the security of the nest. It showed no interest in the Park despite both parents trying to lure her with food. A few hair raising moments jumping across the street, but so far so good..fingers crossed.