If You Love It, Let It Go!

Kestrel release party 2009!
Heading towards the Great Hill in Central Park.

Getting ready for freedom's sweet taste.

Release from the Big House!

Closeup of the male...

and the larger, duller female.


The double release!!


Peter gets his kestrel release on.

Enter the Dork!


Good luck little flyers...and much appreciation to the Horvath's for making our World a more beautiful one!

Eyes Wide Green

I made a friend today. She told me photographs are an illusion. And I have to say I tend to agree. But there is also a part of me that says, if it is an illusion, then let me be illusioned. For it is none other than the hand of Master Illusionist, playing out his dream. And in this dream one drifts forever on the wind,

sipping nectar from cherry blossoms,

or standing in the willow's shadow.


If in this dream I loose all sense of time and space. Let me sleep

with my eyes wide green.

Great Raptor Activity

Now that the leaves are down in most of the parks, spotting wintering raptors becomes much easier. My count for the weekend was:
110th St.
2 adult RTH
3 juvy RTH
1 adult coopers
1 juvy coopers
Great Lawn Area
2 adult RTH
2 juvy RTH
2 leo's
Here's some pix...
The Cathedral Pair on Wadleigh

while a youngster passes over their territory.

The one with the damaged wing passed overhead!

Near the Great Lawn
A Pair of LEO's


and a juvy RTH

Near the Great Hill, another juvy RTH

and a juvy Cooper's


stalking a great big ole flock of grackles!

Snow Day

The first real significant snowfall of this Winter provided an interesting change to the scenery. As I wandered around the North Woods at mid-day, there was all sorts of subdued bird activity. Mostly there were picturesque scenes throughout the Woods, despite the deep overcast.



As I rounded the Great Hill, the bird activity grew to a fevered pitch. Apparently its hard to find food in the snow, and a very noisy flock of White Throated Sparrows was tilling the leaf litter, searching for bits!


Apparently I wasn't the only one who noticed. A huge adult Cooper's hawk took up a position overlooking the sparrow pitch.


It flew off to get a closer look...

But then suddenly, a huge immature RTH swooped in overhead!

Im guessing that it had been watching the Cooper's just out of sight, and thought it might steal a kill.
Anyway, the Cooper's eyed the RTH suspiciously, then sulked off to the understory. The RTH then flew toward the Loch, where it was promptly harrassed by some crows and grackles.
A study in contrasts!