Thursday, December 29, 2016

Holiday hawklights

I don't have any new hawk news, but I did spend quite a bit of time with Christo and Dora over the holidays.  They are keeping busy fending off intruders (other red-tails) in their East Village territory, and have been spotted making adjustments to their latest nest near the ping pong table.  It's still about a month away from breeding time, so we won't know what their nest plans are until later in the winter.

On December 23, I found Dora enjoying the sunshine from atop the cross of St Nicholas of Myra church at Avenue A and 10th Street.

Dora

Dora

On the 24th, Christo made an appearance in Tompkins Square.

Christo

Christo

He flew around a lot and briefly settled on this cellphone transmitter at Avenue A and St Mark's Place.  This is normally a big pigeon hang-out.

Christo

A while later, he took in the view from St Nicholas.

Christo

As the sun went down, Christo returned to the park and seemed to be on the hunt for dinner.

Christo

Christo

However, he opted to have leftovers for Christmas Eve rather than go for something fresh.  This squirrel didn't seem to like Christo's choice of dining location.

Christo is confronted by a squirrel

The dinner was a long-dead pigeon that he scooped up from the grass near the chess tables.  It appeared to me to be not much more than a pile of feathers.

Christo eating feathers

The hawks don't waste food, so even this little scrap was cached.

Christo

On Christmas day, the hawks were not very cooperative posing for photos, but I did get this one of Dora being distracted by a squirrel.

Dora is confronted by a squirrel

On December 27, both hawks spent most of the afternoon on the scaffolding on top of the Christodora building.  I looked up just in time to see a young Cooper's hawk zipping past Dora.  It happened so fast, I didn't have time to focus the camera.

A Cooper's hawk approaches Dora

Christo soon joined her.

Christo & Dora

The two of them hung out up there until the sun set.  They are probably the only residents of the Christodora who will be sad when the scaffolding eventually comes down.

Christo & Dora

That evening, Dora went to roost in a tree in the SE corner of the park and Christo scouted out possible roosting spots along 7th Street.

Christo scouts out a roosting location

He finally settled on a fire escape near Avenue B.  After sunset, he was all but invisible in this sheltered location.

Christo goes to roost 

The following day, Dora roosted in the park while Christo chose a tree along 7th Street. 

Thursday, December 22, 2016

December hawk-watching - Part 2

Continuing on from my previous post, Christo and Dora were active around Tompkins Square on Friday.  Late in the afternoon, Christo touched down in the SE corner of the park.  By the time I got there, it appeared he had caught a pigeon.

Christo with a frozen pigeon

However, when he took to the air, it was clear the pigeon was frozen.

Christo with a frozen pigeon

These photos don't show it, but the pigeon was stiff as a board.

Christo with a frozen pigeon

A fellow park-goer told me she saw Christo catch a pigeon in the same area the previous day.  The temperatures had stayed below freezing, so it's possible this pigeon was caught the day before and had been stashed for later.

Christo with a frozen pigeon

Christo with a frozen pigeon

Unfortunately, Christo had no way of thawing out his food.  I wondered if he might be smart enough to take it to a steam pipe on a roof...or to the hand-dryer in the men's room (!).

Christo with a frozen pigeon

But no.  He struggled with the pigeoncicle for several minutes, flipping it over and trying to get a good grip.  Eventually, he flew it to the tree in the middle of the park and went to work chipping away the icy feathers.

Christo with a frozen pigeon

Meanwhile, Dora watched everything.

Dora

She took off flying around the Krishna tree calling over and over.  This was unusual behavior for her and I wondered what was upsetting her.  Suddenly, a kestrel zoomed in from over 7th Street and attacked her in flight.  It happened so fast, I couldn't get a photo.  The kestrel disappeared over the buildings to the south and Dora continued flying around screaming until she decided to take a rest above Christo as he prepared dinner.


It took him a long time to break through the frozen pigeon feathers and get to the edible bits.  I tried to imagine what it would be like to chew on a frozen rotisserie chicken.

Apparently, he took too long to eat and Dora must have been hungry, as she rather rudely flew down and kicked him off the food.

My turn!


You can see the bulge of Christo's full crop as he takes off to the left.  I guess he had enough.


I followed him to 10th Street where he settled in one of his roosting trees north of the park.

Christo gone to roost

As Christo was done for the day, I passed back through the park and saw that Dora was still eating the pigeon. It was dark by this time, so I left her to finish her dinner and headed home.

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

December hawk-watching - Part 1

I love hawk-watching in December.  The air is crisp, but not unbearably cold.  The sun shines a filtered yellow that brings out the warm color of the birds and compliments the pale blue sky.  The hawks are active at this time of year, but the park is quiet and often serene.

Last Friday, I found Christo waiting in a tree near the chess tables in Tompkins Square.  The temperature hovered in the mid-20s, but Christo looked just fine in his puffy down coat.

Christo

He looked bigger with his feathers fluffed up.

Christo

The squirrels are fattened up for winter and appear to be nearly the same size as the hawks.  Maybe their increased bulk feeds their confidence as one squirrel seemed to be at ease hanging out just inches away from a predator.  Christo showed zero interest, and was instead focused on a flock of pigeons feeding in the grass below.

Squirrel and hawk hanging out

Meanwhile, I found Dora perched on a building on Avenue B and 7th Street.  She was watching pigeons on a rooftop across the street.

Dora

After a few minutes, she decided to take off north along the avenue.

Dora

Dora

Dora

She settled on one of her favorite places - the roof of St Brigid's church.  From there, she took off NE towards Avenue C.

Dora

I continued down Avenue B and noticed a flock of pigeons going wild over 4th Street.  When I reached the intersection, something shot past me and flew into the sun.  I ran down the block to 3rd Street and turned back to see this juvenile Cooper's hawk who had landed on a water tower.

Cooper's hawk

The Cooper's stayed up there for 10-15 minutes before diving down the side of the tower and disappearing east over the rooftops.

I walked back up Avenue B and found Christo on the cross at St Brigid's.  He seemed to be very focused on something far away to the west.

Christo

After a few minutes, he took off over the park.

Christo

I found him a short while later on the cross at St Nicholas of Myra on Avenue A and 10th Street.  Pigeons were flying all over, but he didn't seem interested in them. I suspected the Cooper's hawk was around riling up the pigeons, and likely keeping Christo's attention, but I never did see what was causing the fuss.

Christo with pigeons

Later, Dora joined Christo in keeping watch over Avenue A.

Christo and Dora 

And that wasn't all the action that day...more to come.

Sunday, December 18, 2016

Feeling blue

Showing some love for some of our most beautiful native birds, blue jays.

Blue Jay

After the snow Saturday morning, several jays joined the sparrows and pigeons in Tompkins Square to forage for seeds and nuts.

Blue Jay

Blue Jay

Blue Jay

Blue Jay

One special talent the jays have is mimicking the sounds of red-tailed hawks.  They can make the hawk "scream" as well as the call of a juvenile hawk begging for food.  I've been fooled many times into running around looking for a hawk, only to find a jay in its place.  Why do they make the hawk sounds?  My best guess is to try and scare other birds away from potential food.

Blue Jay

Blue jays bring a welcome burst of color to the bleak backdrop of winter.

Blue Jay

Thursday, December 15, 2016

Christo continues to tolerate Cooper's hawks on his turf

This last Sunday and Monday, Christo entertained a couple of juvenile Cooper's hawks in Tompkins Square.  As I've noted several times over the last few weeks, he and Dora have been highly tolerant of migrating Cooper's hawks in their territory, while demonstrating clear intolerance for other red-tailed hawks

Christo

While Christo casually perched atop a light pole, a young Cooper's hawk flew by and perched in a nearby tree.

Cooper's hawk

To be honest, I've lost track of all the Cooper's hawks that have been spotted in the park this season.  There has been at least one adult, possibly two, and several different juveniles.

Cooper's hawk

Sunday afternoon, shortly before the holiday tree lighting, Christo perched on a branch near the Krishna tree (lower left).  A juvenile Cooper's hawk flew in and perched near him (upper right).

Red-tailed and Cooper's hawks hanging out together

Christo seemed to ignore the other hawk as it hopped down closer to him, perching just a few feet away.  They stayed like that for a few minutes before the Cooper's decided to fly towards St Brigid's church.  It was only then that Christo took off after it.

Cooper's hawk

I have yet to see any of the Cooper's hawks catch any food, so if they're eating in or around the park, I keep missing them in action.  But each day I visit Tompkins Square, I'm guaranteed to see at least one.

Late Monday afternoon, Christo made an unexpected rat catch on the south side of the park.

Christo catches a rat

Christo catches a rat

Christo catches a rat

Christo catches a rat

He flew the rat to a big tree near Avenue A, but didn't eat it. He appeared to stash it there for Dora, who eventually came around, but wasn't interested in eating.  She then flew to the east side of the park and Christo followed her, carrying the rat.

They landed on one of their favorite 'kitchen table' branches and Christo (left) seemed perplexed at Dora's disinterest in the food.  But if you look at the photo below, it's clear she had a very full crop (right) and didn't need more to eat right at that moment.

Christo and Dora

Christo didn't appear hungry either, so I guess he stashed the rat in the tree to eat later.  I was curious to know whether the Cooper's hawk might come around and steal the stash, but it was soon dark and the hawk pair went to roost in a tree in the SE corner of the park.