2026 Boyd Hill Nature Preserve Raptor Fest - Part 1

I had the pleasure of attending the annual Raptor Fest at Boyd Hill Nature Preserve in Florida earlier this month. It's a fundraising event to help them maintain the preserve and to care for the many birds they have in their care. All of the resident raptors are captive due to injuries or imprinting on humans, and cannot survive on their own.

Up first is this cute little Screech Owl. 

Here is an example of red-morph and gray-morph Screech Owls. It was really difficult to capture these two looking in the same direction at the same time.

This Barred Owl drew a lot of attention with her beautiful dark eyes.

There were a few Swallow-Tailed Kites in attendance, including this adult.

This is an adult Mississippi Kite.

This is my first time seeing a juvenile Mississippi Kite, which was really striking in person.

An annual favorite is this leucistic adult male Red-Tailed Hawk. I've posted photos of him before, but had to share more again as he's so unique. 

Upcoming: Part 2

Dinner with Charlie the Red-Tailed Hawk

On a recent visit to Tompkins Square, I found resident male Red-Tailed Hawk, Charlie.

He was calmly perched in a tree when a squirrel came along to taunt him.

I soon realized Charlie had been perched on that particular branch because there was a dead pigeon on the ground below, presumably dropped by him just before I arrived. He soon came down to retrieve it.

You can see he still has bright yellowish eyes, indicating he's young. His eyes will darken with age.

After looking around a few seconds, Charlie flew the pigeon to a tree where he could safely eat it.

After eating his fill, he took the leftovers to another tree and called to Amelia.

Seeing her in another tree, he flew the pigeon to her.

Amelia was hidden in thick branches, so I couldn't get a photo of her accepting dinner. Instead, I stuck with Charlie who perched in a nearby tree, soaking in the sun on this cold day.

Eventually, he took off and soared away...

Red-Shouldered Hawk in the neighborhood

There has been an immature Red-Shouldered Hawk hanging around the neighborhood.

It seems to avoid Tompkins Square Park, territory of the resident Red-Tails, and has scoped out an area where it is finding success hunting pigeons and rats.

If there is prey readily available, a hawk may camp out for several days or weeks.

In the photo below, you can see the heat waves coming out of the chimney where the hawk was perched. I can't help but wonder if the hawk was taking advantage of warm chimneys on this extremely cold day.

Red-Shouldered Hawks are not that rare, but we don't see many of them in the city, so it was exciting to see this one making a living in this area. I hope it sticks around for the remainder of winter.

 

 

There can never be too many ducks

Winter is my favorite time to see ducks, and some really interesting ones can be found in the waters around NYC.

I was really excited to find this female Common Eider off the beach at Coney Island. 

She is my first and I revisited her many times to get a decent photo. A random snow storm hit during one of my visits, which made photos nearly impossible, so I returned the following day and found her in the same spot.

I didn't have any luck seeing a male (they are black and white), but I was really happy to get good looks at this gal.

These ducks breed in the Arctic, so seeing them this far south is pretty special.

Common Goldeneyes usually show up in winter. The males appear black and white, but the dark head is actually a deep iridescent green.

These ducks are not uncommon, but they don't appear in large numbers here, so it's pretty cool to see one.

Long-Tailed ducks are some of my favorites, so I have posted photos of them before, and don't mind sharing some more. I find their plumages really interesting.

 

This is an immature male: 

And this is an adult male in non-breeding plumage:

This one is not like the others. All the ducks above are diving ducks, and often found along the shore. Muscovy ducks are none of that. Most of the ones we seen in North America are domesticated versions, and can often be found in parks or lakes.

 

I like how varied they are in appearance. This is a male. 

This is a female.

And these are Muscovy ducklings. Squeeee!