Rise Above

You can either kneel or soar...the choice is yours!

Morningside Kestrels

A trip to the old neighborhood produced a new crop of AMKEs.

Mount Loretto: The Jewel of Staten Island

It's taken some time but Mount Loretto is really coming into its own as a wildlife sanctuary. Mature grasslands, deep woods and copious shorelines make this a paradise for all manner of birds and insects. Most obvious are the bald eagles and osprey which crisscross the airspace above the cliffs. Along the shoreline are many cormorant, geese, peeps and the always entertaining solitary sandpiper. In some of the tidal estuaries I had Wood Duck, Great Egret, Belted Kingfisher, Blue-grey gnat catcher, marsh wren and this family of very agitated white-eye vireo. Along the grasslands were indigo bunting, yellow warbler, barn swallow, common grackle, rwbb and orchard oriole. As for butterfly I had many monarch, black swallowtail, comma, question mark, red admiral, common buckeye and painted lady. The only herp was a common bullfrog singing somewhere in the marsh. Gorgeous day!

Great Blue Herons

Out in central NJ are two well established Great Blue Heron rookeries. They are always really interesting but are also tick laden so always check yourself for these pariahs. Mercer County: Ocean County: Looks to be a bumper crop, good luck little nesters!

Still Hawking!

And now the hawks...

The owls and eagles have fledged. Now the hawksplosion...good luck to this years crop!

Faces ony Mothers can Love

No NJ summer would be complete without a posting about vultures. We get both Black and Turkey here and they are both quite numerous. While doing the OCBC I stumbled upon one of their nests. There's so much roadkill here that they stay fat and happy.

NYC Nesting Raptors

Water St. Peregrines Grant's Tomb Hawks Riverside Church Peregrines St. John Hawks Good Luck to all the Nesters!

Manasquan Bald Eagles

Ocean County Eagles

Eagle nesting season is in full swing now here in Central NJ. Both the Manasquan and Brick pairs are tending the nests and appear to have begun brooding. Hopefully we'll see some eaglets in the next few weeks!

Thelonius Hawk

Winter is hawk rescue season in NYC as many of the first year birds get into trouble. Whether its starvation, parasites or secondary poisoning, hawk rehabbers are admitting about 1 hawk a day from around the 5 boros. This guy was trapped in Thelonius Monk Circle on West End and 63rd St. It has an injury to its right wing and could barely fly--possibly from chasing prey--and rat bites on its feet. The Park there is heavily infested with rats and many hawks die due to secondary poisoning--in other words injesting a poisoned rat. Rather than controlling rats by restricting their food sources or using other methods such as live traps and CO2, the City has gone all in with poison, thus condemning many birds of prey to agonizing deaths. If you see a sick or injured hawk, please contact the Audubon Society who will dispatch a wildlife rescue voluteer. The animal was brought to Animal Medical Center on 62nd and York for evaluation and will be rehabbed by WINORR. All of these organizations are non-profit so please feel free to donate to them...it will go to a great cause! Thanks to Fabian the doorman for the pix!