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!

Almost Fledging (Part 2)

The Boat-basin Hawks are doing a great job keeping their little ones fed. The rapid growth has led to some rudimentary branching by the oldest chick. Here they are flapping, hopping, sleeping and generally being awesome little dudes.





The whole family.

Under the watchful eye of the parent. She was carefully eyeing a dog.

Say it loud..."I Love Hawks!!!"

Nesting Season '09

So far '09 is looking positive as all the familiar resident raptors claim their territory from over-wintering juveniles. A few early pairs are already sitting on the nest...here's some updates.
One of the Cathedral hawks over the Dwyer. They have both been making forays northward recently.

At 150th I saw an adult rth ward off this juvy.

As it passes the Polo Grounds.

I have seen the kestrels around here too, but none of them mating yet. I did catch this pair at 177th St. and Amsterdam Ave.



Nearby at Highbridge,

This pair understand that the key to a relationship is good communication!

A closeup of the female.


She sprang down from the branch, weaving through the woods, redtail bobbing!
I tracked her to the nest where she settled down. (Same location as 2 yrs ago).

Further north, the Broadway Peregrines are still doing their thing. I got shots of them mating again, but they were bad. Yes, it has come to this, Im censoring falcon porn.




Last but not least, I made out this curious sight in Highbridge, near the hawk nest.

Nice raccoon loft!

If anyone has any info on raptors sightings in Harlem, let me know. Good luck!

Recent Raptors

Juvenile in Highbridge.

Peregrines on Broadway Bridge.


She flew out, calling to him!




As a side note. I've documented before the vast numbers of starlings that roost here. It seems that somebody is poisoning the starlings. There have been similar incidents in New Jersey and Pennslyvania recently. The peregrines prey upon them but such are their numbers that they dont make much of a dent in the population.



Female of Inwood Hill.

note the injured wing.

Ranger Rob had some pix of her just earlier in a duel with an eagle over the ballfields.

she leapt branch by branch till she made it to the nest. Redtailed hawks are tough birds, lets hope for the best. She did have a full crop though.

On the way out, this merlin!

Cathedral Couple Copulates Conspicuously!

Having looked over the past years blog entries, I knew that the Cathedral couple would be active around the nest, if in fact they were going to use the same location as previous years. After locating them on St. Luke's from my roof, I jetted over post-haste to see if the same nesting behavior could be observed. I found them both on a favored air-conditioner, where the male promptly took off!





He landed in a nearby tree,

where he wrestled off large branches in his powerful grasp!

Both he and Isolde gave me incredible looks as they ferried twigs to and from the nest!








This went on for some time, and a small crowd of awe-struck people witnessed the spectacle of the two grand animals making low passes!




The Cooper's that Rbs has been tracking, briefly joined the action.

Hawk Shadow!

What do you get when you cross a stick and a hawk?


Each bird made about 3 sorties to the nest, spending a good amount of time there...


The female finally flew out and landed in the St. Luke's yard...


at which point the male flew over,

and did what Nature has so inclined these Hawks to do!




They were both off then, out hunting over Morningside. Good luck to you and all the nesting NYC Raptors! Let's hope the Cathedral is a bit more accomodating this year, giving you the space you need and site free of potential contamination!