Redtail Roundup

As has been widely documented, NYC is THE place for Redtails both young and old in the Winter. Here's a collection of some recent pix from around the nabe.
While walking on ACP Blvd. in the snow/sleet, I spotted a group of pigeons break from a roof. Just underneath, I saw Isolde curl up and nab a slow pigeon on the side of a building.

She plucked the still living bird in the icy storm.


Down in Riverside Park, the nesting pair there continues to make ample use of their territory. I found the female with a broken beak, sunning over the West Side Highway.


The tough conditions lead to much starvation amongst the resident starlings, sparrows and squirrels...

they even resort to garbage raids to stay alive.

Broadway Bridge '09

Here are some shots from the tip of Manhattan from the past weekend. The peregrine pair continues to overwinter at Broadway Bridge. The pair will spend much of the time defending their territory and hunting.

The sunside of the bridge is their well worn territory.
Here's the female coughing up a pellet,


and the male preening.


As in the past two years, juvenile Cooper's hawks maintain a prominent role in the available hunting territory. I watched this one break at a flock of pigeons!


The interesting thing was noticing how the antenna visibly rocked as it took off.
Also seen were this cute black squirrel,

and this rare species, kayakus insaneus.

Snowy Owl takes Flight

Here's an a flight animation from this past weekend.

Jones Beach

For the past few years I have been meaning to make it out to Jones Beach to check out the Snowy Owls that over-winter there. The main problem has always been that during the winter, no public transportation is available to that location, making a day trip more than impractical. Luckily I had access to an auto this past weekend, so I decided to see what the deal was out there. Here's some pix of what I found...
At the Coast Guard Station there were tons of songbirds in the scrub pines. They included Yellow-rumped warblers, a Conneticut Warbler, a Orange-Crowned Warbler,

many varieties of sparrow, including this poor girl who was so chilled by the steady gale that she sought refuge in the wheel-well of my car!

Plus all the regulars such as the familiar gulls, pigeons and many, many Canada Geese.


Flights of Black Ducks made their way from the beach.

Rounding the pier, I found these two plovers hunkered down on the bayside.

From across the dock, I spotted yet another black and white avian form. It seemed to be preening on a small break water. I came across for a closer look, but could not locate it. After searching the water for 10 minutes, I started back when lo and behold, this gorgeous male Long-tailed Duck was crusing in an empty slip.

It approached quite near to me, and I marveled at its beautiful coloration. In a way, it seemed tame, almost like it was asking for my attention.

Upon futher observation, the cause became quite clear...

they poor guy has a busted left wing. I'll try to contact a rehabber out on LI, but catching a skilled and still healthy diving duck in frigid water is not for the faint of heart. As you can see its diving ability was not affected by its injury.

I was able to located two Snowy Owls, one much more cooperative than the other. Word of mouth is that the shy one is a young male, while the more approachable one is an adult female. From the very beginning of the trip, signs were posted everywhere emphasizing the special nature of this habitat and how to properly care for it.

Notice the photog taking a pic of the snowy in the background. Because of this it was easy to locate this bird. The issue is that many people who use these grounds dont respect the rules...as evidence by this disturbing photo.

After frantically waving the owner and her bird-retrieving dog off the dunes we settled into some picture taking.

Suddenly another sound disturbed the Owl.

A trio of crows paid a visit, but soon departed. Also this adult female Harrier swooped over the dunes,

as did this fellow,

The White Ghost!
After all the excitement, the Snowy quietly dozed off.

And I went to warm the heck up! I returned as sunset to find her with another gaggle of admirers.

She gracefully accepted the attention,

but moved on to more fertile grounds.

Rooftop Kestrel

The top of the Dwyer has turned out to be a bounty in terms of expanding my Urban Raptor knowledge. Able to observe the birds for long periods of time, I have been able to mark the ranges, hunting habits and numbers of mated raptor pairs. My one regret is that while seeing the big picture well, the close-up one has been largely absent save for the view from my spotting scope. Instead, I have been treated to the occasional close passes by the hawks, falcons, crows and song birds as they cruised past towards the southern Parks. Today at noon however this pattern was interrupted. I heard the distinct killy, killy, killy of a pair of kestrels somewhere nearby. By the time I got them in site, the male had flown off south, while the female remained.

She flew down to a vent pipe (a common ambush perch). Kestrels also use the heat to stay warm--a necessary trait for quick reflexes).

Bracing against the vicious wind, I took my eye off her for a second...and she was gone. I picked my head up off the camera just in time to see her arc in just over my head and round the corner! As I wheeled around, there! She had landed on the corner of my building.

Mmm...not the best light on her, so I carefully made my way across to the bird! She allowed me to get quite close.

Framed against the St. Nicholas Houses.
One of the most fascinating things I observed was how this tiny bird manages in the brutal gale. A particularly strong draft hit her, and she adopted this pose!

Notice how she uses her left wing to deflect the wind upward, thereby creating downpressure on her feet. Notice how she's digging in with her talons! This is a bird that weighs about 1 oz., resisting a 40mph wind! She then turned to face the northern courtyard...

and used the same wind to propel her at a flight of sparrows!

Look at the gore on her talons!