2026: Year of the Horse

Last weekend was Super Saturday in Chinatown, one of my favorite events of the year. The streets were closed to traffic while firecrackers, confetti, drummers, performers and revelers filled the streets to welcome the Year of the Horse. I really enjoyed the festivities this year and some photo highlights are below. 

The amount of confetti was...astonishing. A glorious mess that I will be picking out of my hair for years to come.

There were times I had to just embrace the cellphone era. I hope someone got a good video...

Offerings for the monster Nian:

The finale of one performance included this dragon.

The dragon and crowd were eventually swallowed up by firecracker smoke. I wanted to take some video to capture the deafening sound, but the crowd was so tight, I couldn't move my arms, LOL.

 

Let's hope the Year of the Horse brings us some good luck. 

 

See more photos of the event on my Flickr page.

 

See previous Lunar New Year posts here.

Tompkins Square hawks getting ready for nesting season

It's March, which means spring is almost here and another hawk nesting season begins. Tompkins Square red-tailed hawks, Charlie and Amelia, have been busy preparing for another brood. Below are some recent pics.

Charlie on the cross of St Brigid's church on Avenue B: 

He takes off and heads into the park.

This is Amelia taking off from the cross of St Nicholas of Myra church on Avenue A.

She's looking good.

Charlie flies in from the left to help Amelia arrange sticks in their nest. When spring kicks in and the tree gets leaves, their nest will be nearly invisible.

Amelia and Charlie perched on Avenue A early one evening:

For information about the previous nesting years, check out my Tompkins Square Hawk Archive page. 

 

 

2026 Boyd Hill Nature Preserve Raptor Fest - Part 4

In this final post on the Boyd Hill Nature Preserve Raptor Fest, we feature the star of the show, an African Black (Verreaux's) Eagle named Ka.

Falconer Steve Hoddy, founder and director of Earthquest, showed off the 10-month old eagle in her juvenile plumage. When she molts into her adult plumage, she will be all black.

The largest bird in the show, she wowed the crow with her wingspan.

Up close, you can see how beautiful her color patterns are.

The photos don't do her plumage justice as the sun was really bright. In person, her coloring was even more saturated and vibrant. 

At one point, Ka went, er, spread-eagle to soak up the sun.

Check out those looong legs!

Thanks to everyone at Earthquest and the volunteers at Boyd Hill Nature Preserve who worked so hard and brought a lot of joy to so many people.

 

 

2026 Boyd Hill Nature Preserve Raptor Fest - Part 3

In Part 3 of my Boyd Hill Nature Preserve Raptor Fest series, we spotlight Arrow, a Harris's Hawk.

These hawks are always spectacular and a favorite at raptor shows.

Look at that beautiful tail.

I've never seen a Harris's Hawk in the wild, so that is on my bucket list.

Thanks to falconer Steve Hoddy, founder and director of Earthquest, for sharing his birds and teaching the audience about the importance of environmental conservation.

I could have spent the entire day watching Arrow fly around and dazzle the crowd, but there was one more raptor who ended up being the star of the show. Stay tuned for Part 4.