Stop, Hey What's That Sound?

For the past few weeks, the 10 Monk Parakeets have been feeding, sunning and generally chilling out in Hancock Park on St. Nicholas Ave. It has afforded me a great opportunity to study how they go about socializing, finding food and water, avoiding predators and generally being awesome, chatty, squawky dudes. Here's some of the action.
Collecting sticks.

Searching rooftops for food,

and water.

Eating the seeds of black and honey locusts.

Flying in tight groups to avoid the ever-present hawks.

Spending time with a special someone below a red oak.


The 7th Annual Harlem Hawk walk is scheduled for next weekend 11/25 or 26 depending on which weather day is best.

East Harlem Kestrel Rescue

June is a very busy month if you are a birder in New York City. The fact is birds nest pretty much everywhere in the City and when their young fledge, there are scant safe places for them to complete their flight training. As a result, many individuals--both officially sanctioned and self-appointed--assume the responsibility of giving these birds at least a halfway decent chance of surviving beyond the first jump. One tool that has emerged are the listservs where citizens, volunteers and "official bird people" can share information about birds that have gotten into trouble. One such announcement came in this morning about some "hawks" in a garden not far from my house. Arriving on scene, I saw this gorgeous but still very young, male kestrel on a Park bench.

The local community garden may appear to be a perfect oasis for these guys, but in fact Parks and gardens are patrolled by many feral cats. This one was no exception and we saw at least one black and white cat climbing a tree in order to get a robin while there. Because of this, these young falcons are assured a death sentence if left on the ground. And although young, this bird was mostly flighted, so it was imperative no to spook it. It took some time, but I managed to get right next to him for a quick capture.

After that, I gave it an inspection to see if any external injuries were visible and that its wings and legs were in good working order. If there were, I have a rehabber on speed-dial! No sign of hunger trace, feather mites or bumblefoot and of course the look down the gullet for frounce.

Once he checked out, I figured it was best to get him to a safe spot where the parents would see it. A nearby roof provided a perfect spot...no cats, no holes for him to fall into, no wiring or fencing to get snagged on and a lip surrounding the roof that he would have to jump over to get off the roof.

I gently placed him down and backed away. From a safe spot, we watched the Mom show up and take a few calls from him before moving off. The male worked his way back across the roof to over look the garden, but then settled safely in.

From experience I knew that there can be up to 4 chicks so I then set out to find the remaining brood. After some careful searching, we found the scrape in a building across the street that revealed two more babies soon to go.

While taking a picture we also found a fourth female, already fledged.


Good luck guys and to the 111th St Herb Community Garden, thanks for caring!

Northern Manhattan Raptors

Starting at 125th St. and ending at Broadway Bridge, raptor pix from today's variable light.
Female kestrel on my roof.

She flies off to the cell phone tower just outside NYSC!

I made my way onto 125th Street,


where I tracked her North to 126th.

She then flew out where I lost her over 125th and 7th Ave.
Trying my luck North I found a number of hawks along the way, such as the Hood Hawk on the trash chute for one of the St. Nicholas Houses.

I also caught up with the Inwood female.


She flew out when I got too close. As I cut across east, I soon encountered a strange cachophony, as if I was under the spell of a weird ventroloquism. That is to say I could not tell where the sound was coming from, nor what could be making it. It sounded vaguely crow-like, but gutteral, like a distant croaking. Curling along the Harlem River, I made my way into a parking lot where I witnessed a remarkable sight. About 40 crows were in a tree, doing whatever it is crows do, but mostly just crowing.

There's 29 alone in the pic above. This one seemed to be the leader.

They would land in that tree crowing like mad, then circle around and make their way across the River to the Bronx side.

Where there were about 30 more! At one point a RTH did circle through above them, but they ignored it. Finally I paid a visit to the peregrines at BwayBrdge. I found the male and the female together, with she making the territorial eee-chuck calls.

Eventually the male flew out.

and landed on the edge of the south tower.

Later the female flew out waaaay over Kingsbridge,

The male also took off an returned with a huge pigeon!

Blue Hawk

I found this gal on 125th, perched next to a perriwinkle best buy sign.

Fall Birds Part 2

As the fall migrants begin to ebb, their colder winter brethren are beginning to settle in. In addition to birds such as sparrows, titmice and chickadees, numerous species of raptors will begin to take up their winter residences here in the City's Parks. Here's a sample of these visitors...
A large juvy RTH in the North Woods,

moving rapidly throughout the trees.

The last of the warblers fattening up include Palms,

Yellow rumped,

Tennessee,


and Kinglets.

Some of the cold weather birds include this Yellow-bellied Sapsucker,

titmice,

and jays caching acorns!

Feasting on this crop of birds are numerous raptors including Cooper's Hawks. This one was over CPN,

while this one was over 150th, hunting starlings.

Also on 150th, was the resident male kestrel...






Last but not least, are the Monarch Butterflies.