Nature's nightmares

Nature can be beautifully horrifying, and today's nightmarish double feature comes to you from Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, an otherwise serene and magical place.

I was walking along a path on a recent afternoon when I saw a large insect flying towards me, then landing in a fir tree. 

Hello, what's this?

As my brain pulled the image into focus, the true horror of the situation dawned on me. This is a female Cicada Killer Wasp who has just caught her prey.

The wasp clutched the cicada as she hung from the fir tree by one leg. The cicada spasmed a few times, but appeared to already be paralyzed by her sting. As I reached for my video camera, the wasp flew away, but not before I was able to get a few photos. In the one below, I think the wasp looks pretty pleased with her catch, which she presumably took to her burrow to feed to her offspring.

I like cicadas - to me, they always look like they're smiling - so I was sad for this one, but the wasp had a successful day, so there's that.

One insect I'm less fond of is the Spotted Lantern Fly. Here's one of those suckers now:

And I do love dragonflies, especially the Blue Skimmers who seem to be the easiest to photograph as they perch for long spells and are not very timid.

So, what happens when a Blue Skimmer meets a Spotted Lantern Fly? 

 

I found out when, once again, I saw a large insect flying towards me. It looked like a dragonfly carrying something...indeed, it had a lantern fly in its clutches!

Having your face eaten off by a dragonfly has got to be one of the more horrible ways to leave this world.

The lantern fly was not yet dead at this point, struggling as the dragonfly bit into its neck (or what ever that part is that is between the head and body).

I guess I do feel bad for the lantern fly, but am glad to see a dragonfly preying on them. Until this day, I had not seen anything eating these invasive insects, so it's a good thing that our local predators are catching on that these make good meals. Since then, I've also see a Great Crested Flycatcher feasting on a lantern fly.

After it was done eating, the dragonfly discarded the wings, which you can see in the photo below as the blurry red blob in the background.

I was able to get video this time, which you can see here:

Fledgling hawk returns to Tompkins Square

The fledgling red-tailed hawk who was taken into rehab for an injury on July 27, was released back into Tompkins Square Park Tuesday afternoon.

Urban Park Ranger Rob Mastrianni, who originally rescued the hawk, had the honor of returning it to its home and family.

Check out those talons!

These video clips show wildlife rehabber, Bobby Horvath (WINORR), handing the hawk off to Rob, who kindly allowed spectators to have a closer look at the bird.

As stated in the videos, this is the third (youngest) offspring of resident red-tails, Christo and Amelia, this season. And, it turns out she is a small female (we had previously guessed this was a male). She was hatched in the park in late April, and fledged the nest on June 10.

 

The actual release was very quick - just a few seconds as Rob lifted her up into a tree and she flapped to a higher branch.

Resting and regrouping in a tree:

After about 30 minutes, the fledgling swooped to the ground and caught a mouse, a good sign that she is able to hunt and catch prey.

Many observers stayed with the fledgling all afternoon making sure she was ok.

Around 6pm, hawk parents Christo and Amelia showed up on St Brigid's church. It wasn't immediately clear if they knew about the return of their fledgling.

However, the fledgling saw them an began to cry. That caught Amelia's attention and she began calling to the fledgling. Christo also joined in and after a few back-and-forth words, Amelia flew into the park, followed by Christo. They both perched in their favorite locust tree near Avenue B and screamed at the young hawk, who remained perched in a small tree in the same area.

Above, Christo is on the left and Amelia is on the right. I tried to record their hawk conversation, bu there was a lot of noise in the park. The video below captures the fledgling's cries, answered by the parents' hawk screams. Apologies for the sound of human voices and barking dogs...

The hawks carried on like this for at least an hour and their loud vocalizations drew quite a crowd. I've never heard a hawk conversation like this, so it was pretty cool to witness.

I stayed until sunset when all three hawks went off to roost for the night. Fingers crossed this young hawk makes a full recovery from its original injury, the cause of which is still a mystery.

Good news: Tompkins Square fledgling returns from rehab

Good news out of Tompkins Square today where the red-tailed hawk fledgling who was taken to rehab in July was returned. I will post photos and video shortly, but thanks go to Bobby Horvath of WINORR who has been caring for the hawk over the last month, and to Ranger Rob Mastrianni who rescued it and released it today.

One thing we learned today is the fledgling is a small female. As this one is much smaller than its older two siblings, I was convinced it was a male, but not so! 

Welcome home, little one!

Christo and Amelia build an alternative nest in Tompkins Square

Resident red-tailed hawks, Christo and Amelia, have spent time over the last few weeks building a "frustration" nest in Tompkins Square Park. This is essentially an alternate nest, with no intention of actual use. I've seen them do this each year, although the location is not always the same. This post from 2019 shows an example. The alternate nest this year is in a dense tree with no visibility from the ground.

There was a point in late July when Christo and Amelia pulled back on their efforts to catch food for the fledglings, forcing the young hawks to practice hunting for themselves. This resulted in the fledglings following their parents around the park, screaming for food. Christo and Amelia mostly ignored them and carried on with their new activity, which was building the alternative nest.

This is Amelia early one morning looking for suitable sticks.

When she found the one she wanted, she worked hard to break it from the tree.

After successfully breaking the perfect stick, Amelia flew it to the tree where the nest was being constructed.

While she was doing this, one of the fledglings chased her around crying, but after receiving no response, decided to join in with the stick gathering. I've never seen this happen before, so I was really excited to see this behavior.

This is the fledgling with a stick it has just broken from the tree - and despite having the stick in its mouth, the young hawk continued to cry.

(terrible lighting conditions led to some weird coloring in these photos)

The fledgling followed Amelia to the new nest and appeared to help with the construction. Maybe it thought it would get her attention or a reward for helping?

This is Christo bringing a more substantial branch to the nest. The three of them worked on the construction project for about an hour before going on with their day.

In my opinion, building an alternative nest is a bonding activity for Christo and Amelia that helps them transition away from feeding their young without losing their purpose. By now, the kids are capable of feeding themselves, but he parents are there for support and will provide food if necessary. Working on the construction project together helps strengthen their cooperative relationship and keeps their skills sharp. 

There's always something interesting to observe with this hawk family. Stay tuned...

Tompkins Square hawk breeding season winding down

It's mid-August, which means we're seeing less and less of the Tompkins Square red-tailed hawk fledglings as they are now becoming independent.

One fledgling still remains in the care of WINORR after suffering a wing injury on July 27. As soon as there's an update on its release, I'll post it here.

In the mean time, here are some recent shots of the fledglings in the park.

Perched in the Krishna tree:

Giving me "the look".

This one perches at the top of the redwood tree next to the men's room, which is a favorite perch of dad, Christo.

This one spent a late afternoon staring at pigeons from atop the cross of St Brigid's church on Avenue B. Mom, Amelia, often hunts pigeons here so perhaps this one is contemplating her hunting strategy.

Lastly, this is one of the fledglings soaring. Seeing them fly high over the neighborhood tells me they're ready to be on their way.

It's been a very positive and active hawk season, and I am grateful we were able to observe this trio of young hawks as they explored their world and grew into impressive raptors. They brought us a lot of joy and inspiration.