Showing posts with label Riverbank State Park. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Riverbank State Park. Show all posts
Monday, February 08, 2010
More Harlem Eagles!
Somewhere on this ice flow were 2 eagles. As the ice drifted by, we could see a huge female adult eagle finishing up a fish as another adult and juvenile begged for scraps!
Monday, January 26, 2009
Riverside Park 125-155
As luck or geography would have it, the low lying area of 125th St. is the perfect border for neighboring redtails. I often see Cathedral Pair patrolling up to the Grant Apts over on Amsterdam before slicing South towards Wadleigh or even Mt. Sinai. Much less is known about the pair to the North, which I have been calling the CCNY pair. Sometimes I catch glimpses of the female over St. Nicholas Park and then North to 155th. Recently I had a chance to observe an adult male hunting over their territory, with him diving just past my building. By the time I had a shot he'd made his way over to PS 157 on 126th.
Numerous gulls made close passes to the hawk.
Suddenly it flew West down on some unseen birds. I lost track of the bird after then...super stealth hawk! Prey birds returned and I knew the hawk had left the area.
Next up was some mangu y cafe at Floridita's for the frigid trek to the Harlem Piers. Adverse conditions be damned, its an amazing experience to be out in the middle of the ice flows! I was looking for eagles, but instead found these great black backed gulls squabbling over a submerged fish carcass.
Juvenile
Adult
There was also the female peregrine over at Riverside Church (she can be just made out on the middle left on the scaffolding).
Making my way north I ended up at Riverbank State Park, where I happened upon this handsome quartet!
They would all dive down...
and then come up with the tough little crabs. Then would then vigourously shake them till they fell apart!
Lots of Canada Geese also. Here they are side by side for some scale.
Since the "Miracle on the Hudson" I have been paying close attention to the movements of Canada Geese. Looking over my pix from Jones Beach, Inwood, Riverside Park, Central Park and Highbridge Park, its clear the area has a ton of over-wintering geese. Its not hard to understand why. They eat grass, everything north of here is frozen and iced over, so they come to where there's an abundant supply. Until the powers that be figure out how to limit their food supply, there will always be lots of these large birds in our area.
All I can tell you is that when this adult RThawk showed up, the geese skadaddled in a hurry!
Later I watched it kiting on the wind, diving down into the Park, and juuust missing this pigeon!
Numerous gulls made close passes to the hawk.
Suddenly it flew West down on some unseen birds. I lost track of the bird after then...super stealth hawk! Prey birds returned and I knew the hawk had left the area.
Next up was some mangu y cafe at Floridita's for the frigid trek to the Harlem Piers. Adverse conditions be damned, its an amazing experience to be out in the middle of the ice flows! I was looking for eagles, but instead found these great black backed gulls squabbling over a submerged fish carcass.
Juvenile
Adult
There was also the female peregrine over at Riverside Church (she can be just made out on the middle left on the scaffolding).
Making my way north I ended up at Riverbank State Park, where I happened upon this handsome quartet!
They would all dive down...
and then come up with the tough little crabs. Then would then vigourously shake them till they fell apart!
Lots of Canada Geese also. Here they are side by side for some scale.
Since the "Miracle on the Hudson" I have been paying close attention to the movements of Canada Geese. Looking over my pix from Jones Beach, Inwood, Riverside Park, Central Park and Highbridge Park, its clear the area has a ton of over-wintering geese. Its not hard to understand why. They eat grass, everything north of here is frozen and iced over, so they come to where there's an abundant supply. Until the powers that be figure out how to limit their food supply, there will always be lots of these large birds in our area.
All I can tell you is that when this adult RThawk showed up, the geese skadaddled in a hurry!
Later I watched it kiting on the wind, diving down into the Park, and juuust missing this pigeon!
Saturday, December 06, 2008
Harlem Hawk Walk
After many weather delays, and some sloth, I finally managed to get the lead out for my annual Hawk Walk tour of Harlem raptors. The morning was crisp, and Robert and I were rewarded with the Cathedral pair, making a pass on the Dwyer, then landing across the street!
The male,
who then flew out,
he and the female then and joined up over Morningside.
After they both flew off south, I noticed a peregrine on top of Riverside Church. I watched through my spotting scope as it dove off the antenna and quickly returned with a pigeon. It then de-feathered the bird, high above Columbia! So far we were off to a great start. We then wended over to the Hudson and walked North to Riverbank State Park. In the past few weeks I had seen both peregrines perched over the Manhattan Waste Transfer Station,
but they werent there today.
As we came to 145th, I noticed a huge flock of about 200 starlings rise from the trees. Pigeons were also darting about. Amongst the flock was a large juvenile Cooper's Hawk, trying to snag breakfast! It dove down towards us and broke at a pigeon under the walkway. We ran to the Park and saw it perched above, but were unable to immediately locate it. While scanning the rooftops for it, I noticed an adult male kestrel diving on something. Soon a large juvenile redtailed hawk emerged!
After loosing the redtaill, the Cooper's broke over the trees and just missed a pigeon about 20 feet from me. I was able to finally get a pic as it was perched.
The underside,
Video of it hunting!
After it flew hither and yon for a few minutes it dove into the Park. We were not able to relocate it, but we did come across another adult Redtailed Hawk at about 152nd St., perched on another watertower.
Continuing North, there was this strange construction...which I originally thought was a hawk nest!
Looking under it, I found droppings, a few sticks, and a pierced pigeon egg, with the yolk sucked out. Very curious. Leaving the Park at 155th soon brought the answer. Listen for the distinctive squawk as Robert goes up the stair!
It was a pair of Monk Parakeets!
So cute as they huddled above the Henry Hudson!
The next bird encountered was yet another adult Redtailed Hawk at 157th St., across from Boricua College!
Finally, we scoured Highbridge Park for birds, and saw 1 adult at 181st St. and as we were packing up to leave, Robert spotted this juvenile with a freshly caught rat!
It allowed us to get quite close.
Upon further examination, it appears to be a very young redtail, with the orangey breast and tolerance of human presence, characteristic of Urban Hawks. Without being able to prove it, it still appears very likely that this is a fledgling from a second Highbridge nesting attempt this year. We found a nest structure in the original tree from years past.
Curious...it will be fascinating in Spring to test this hypothesis! Strangely (and believe me, Highbridge attracts strange), we also encountered these religous slogans tacked to various trees throughout the Park!
Final tally:
116th and Madison Ave--1 juvy RTH
123rd and St. Nicholas--2 adult RTH
123rd and Riverside--1 adult peregrine
145th and Riverside--1 juvy RTH, 1 juvy Cooper's Hawk, 1 adult male kestrel
152nd and Riverside--1 adult RTH
158th and Broadway--1 adult RTH
181st and Harlem River--1 adult RTH
Dykman St.--1 juvy RTH
The male,
who then flew out,
he and the female then and joined up over Morningside.
After they both flew off south, I noticed a peregrine on top of Riverside Church. I watched through my spotting scope as it dove off the antenna and quickly returned with a pigeon. It then de-feathered the bird, high above Columbia! So far we were off to a great start. We then wended over to the Hudson and walked North to Riverbank State Park. In the past few weeks I had seen both peregrines perched over the Manhattan Waste Transfer Station,
but they werent there today.
As we came to 145th, I noticed a huge flock of about 200 starlings rise from the trees. Pigeons were also darting about. Amongst the flock was a large juvenile Cooper's Hawk, trying to snag breakfast! It dove down towards us and broke at a pigeon under the walkway. We ran to the Park and saw it perched above, but were unable to immediately locate it. While scanning the rooftops for it, I noticed an adult male kestrel diving on something. Soon a large juvenile redtailed hawk emerged!
After loosing the redtaill, the Cooper's broke over the trees and just missed a pigeon about 20 feet from me. I was able to finally get a pic as it was perched.
The underside,
Video of it hunting!
After it flew hither and yon for a few minutes it dove into the Park. We were not able to relocate it, but we did come across another adult Redtailed Hawk at about 152nd St., perched on another watertower.
Continuing North, there was this strange construction...which I originally thought was a hawk nest!
Looking under it, I found droppings, a few sticks, and a pierced pigeon egg, with the yolk sucked out. Very curious. Leaving the Park at 155th soon brought the answer. Listen for the distinctive squawk as Robert goes up the stair!
It was a pair of Monk Parakeets!
So cute as they huddled above the Henry Hudson!
The next bird encountered was yet another adult Redtailed Hawk at 157th St., across from Boricua College!
Finally, we scoured Highbridge Park for birds, and saw 1 adult at 181st St. and as we were packing up to leave, Robert spotted this juvenile with a freshly caught rat!
It allowed us to get quite close.
Upon further examination, it appears to be a very young redtail, with the orangey breast and tolerance of human presence, characteristic of Urban Hawks. Without being able to prove it, it still appears very likely that this is a fledgling from a second Highbridge nesting attempt this year. We found a nest structure in the original tree from years past.
Curious...it will be fascinating in Spring to test this hypothesis! Strangely (and believe me, Highbridge attracts strange), we also encountered these religous slogans tacked to various trees throughout the Park!
Final tally:
116th and Madison Ave--1 juvy RTH
123rd and St. Nicholas--2 adult RTH
123rd and Riverside--1 adult peregrine
145th and Riverside--1 juvy RTH, 1 juvy Cooper's Hawk, 1 adult male kestrel
152nd and Riverside--1 adult RTH
158th and Broadway--1 adult RTH
181st and Harlem River--1 adult RTH
Dykman St.--1 juvy RTH
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)