Under Pressure

As nesting season fast approaches, resident raptors have begun to cement their territory and begin work on their nests. Unfortunately, the two great area Churches (The Cathedral of St. John the Divine and Riverside Church), that have hosted both numerous successful nests throughout the years, are themselves are undergoing extensive renovations. Apparently the Churches suffer from numerous leaks and intrusive scaffolding now covers their exterior. In both cases, the repairs come very close to what are now active nests.



I watched both the male and female make sorties into the park, snipping off branches with their powerful beaks.

To date, I have not witnessed any copulation, and last years eggs were laid around March 14th. That still gives us a few weeks of time for the Cathedral to make their repairs. If anyone has a contact at the Cathedral, maybe we can petition for them to begin the work on that part of the Chapel.
Up on Riverside, the same problem exists.


Both species show a lot of tolerance for human activity, but we've seen it before in numerous cases, notably the 5th Ave. red-tailed hawks--Pale Male and Lola--but also in others, where human presence can disrupt nests. The GM peregrines are another notable situation where the installation of the spotlights for the new Apple Store disrupted the nesting peregines. All in all, New York City has many successfully nesting raptors that all have to contend with human interference at one time or another. Hopefully we can find a balance between the needs of our institutions and places of business and the rhythms of the natural world.

10,000 Visits

Blogging has been a very educational process. I've learned tons of development like html, css and php. But the most fascinating part has been learning about the web is how people find each other across the planet. There are about a dozen regular visitors to this site, the vast majority though, come through some type of string inputted into a search engine. Google, google images and yahoo are incredible links that produce mostly intentional, but many times random connections. Occasionally there will have been a visit from some cool country I've never been to like Japan or Australia, and I think about what the birds would be like there. Maybe after hitting the Powerball tomorrow, I'll try to find out. Till then, its more of the same great bird action brought to you live and direct from Nature!
The Cathedral female,

and this beat up juvenile!

Special shout out to all the blogs that link me. They are:
www.urbanhawks.blogs.com
www.bloomingdalevillage.blogspot.com
http://owlbox.blogspot.com
http://reidnr.blogspot.com
and to the ebirdsnyc yahoo list and Network 54, birds forum.
(they also have a specialty hummingbirds forum that is tres nice!

Multi-faceted

Here are a few different angles of a familiar subject...with some video and bonus pix thrown in!





Off to join his mate.

At 125th St., a female kestrel!





At one point, she lit from her perch. I struggled to follow, but saw that she fell in directly behind a starling! You can hear the starling squeal as she out turns the kestrel! If you watch the video frame by frame, you can see the kestrel pursue for a brief few seconds.

She gave up the chase and then raided a starling nest and consumed the chick on the antenna.
Mourning doves,

These crows were raiding a squirrel drey.


Black backed gull,

Peregrine,

and a thrifty squirrel, packing a lunch!

The Mating Game

Mating season has begun for NYC diurnal raptors. Courtship behavior can be observed as well as nesting and territorality. Here is the Cathedral female observing her domain.


She flew to a gargoyle,

where she lay in wait.

A nuthatch happened by, then the female launched from her blind,

and dove down in front of me. Instinctively I spun to see what she might be after!

There, that juvy Cooper's I've been photographing.

I watched wide-eyed as the female dove on the bird through the trees! Pulling up, the accipiter avoided the attack. But the Catherdral male also swooped in overhead. My camera could not follow the action through the denuded canopy. I caught the female as she emerged over Morningside Park, circling for more.


She and the male then flew off through the Park. As I walked up Morningside Avenue, I heard faint crowing. Eventually it grew louder and I soon found a group of 9 crows, moving through the trees.



Their cawing soon became very loud and in unison! The Cathedral female then dove in through the trees at the crows.

They crows broke and wheeled into the female. Through the branches I manage to get a shot.

But it didnt come out, darn. Anyway, the hawk circled a few times and rose above the crows. I worried that the Riverside Peregrines, just a few blocks away, would also enter the fray. But that did not happen...so I decided to go there to see if I could find out why. Scanning the scaffolding, I found the female at the tippy top!

Soon after, the male flew on site,

and soared up to the female!


I thought I might finally witness peregrine copulation,

but the male soared over her! He wheeled around for another pass.






On the next pass, they both flew off together!

Ahhh, togetherness!

I cant wait for Spring!