Friday, February 19, 2021

A new nesting season is underway for red-tails Christo & Amelia in Tompkins Square

It's time!

Red-tailed hawks, Christo and Amelia, began building their new 2021 nest in Tompkins Square the week of February 5. They're using the same locust tree as last season despite damage to the tree last August during Tropical Storm Isaias that destroyed their previous nest and took out several branches. Then again, the hawk pair successfully fledged three chicks from that nest, so we have to trust they know what they're doing.

Below, Amelia and Christo discuss the best placement of sticks in the nest.

Amelia and Christo building their nest

Both Christo and Amelia collect sticks and bring them to the nest, but Amelia does most of the furniture arranging.

Amelia working on her nest

This is Amelia selecting a stick.

Amelia collecting sticks

Getting the right angle while retaining balance can be tricky.

Amelia collecting sticks

This one looks perfect.

Amelia collecting sticks

Success!

Amelia with a stick

Amelia taking a stick back to the nest:

Amelia with a stick

At one point, she landed right above my head.

Amelia collecting sticks

Amelia collecting sticks

I observed Amelia working hard for over two hours. She cut sticks from trees all around the park before taking a break in the late afternoon.

Amelia

Amelia

Christo helped her for the first hour or so.

Christo

Here he is snapping a stick.

Christo cutting a stick

Sometimes, they really have to stretch to get the one they want.

Christo cutting a stick

Amelia:

Amelia

Christo looking victorious at the end of a busy day:

Christo

The pair have also begun mating this last week, which is right on schedule for them. We can look forward to watching them continue building their nest and bonding over the next could of weeks. If all goes well, we should expect eggs in early-mid March.

Friday, February 12, 2021

Seeing pink

For me, living in NYC, February is traditionally the dreariest month. Spring is in sight, but still far away, holidays are over, and the weather is usually cold an cloudy. We've had a lot of gloomy gray days recently, so I thought I'd warm things up by slipping into a pink mood.

First up, a flirty Roseate Spoonbill:

Roseate Spoonbill

Could it be smiling?

Spoonbill

Check out those pink legs. What a cheery creature.

Spoonbill

What other pink birds are there? Probably the most famous is the American Flamingo:

American Flamingo

Then there's the lesser-known and rarely seen East Village Flamingo:

2015 Drag March

Other than these two, I couldn't think of an example of another pink bird. There are many red birds, but pink is a much rarer find in nature.

Looking more mauve than pink, I enjoyed the antics of this Reddish Egret who put on a show as it actively hunted for fish along a beach.

Reddish egret

All of the photos above (except for the EV Flamingo, which was in Tompkins Square) were taken on a pre-pandemic trip to Florida, and this egret ended up being one of my favorite birds observed during the visit.

Reddish egret

It's not quite pink, but this Eastern Bluebird has a rosy orange chest that gives it a warm glow.

Eastern Bluebird

Male House Finches are described as red, but can look pinkish in a certain light.

House Finch

This is a similar-looking Purple Finch, who doesn't look purple at all.

Purple finch

If you're going to be a red bird, go RED, like this Summer Tanager.

Summer tanager

Maybe I have pink on my mind because Valentine's Day is this weekend and there are pink and red decorations and gifts in shop windows. It's also the time of year - despite being cold and gloomy - that birds start to display mating behavior. 

Below, a Cedar Waxwing feeds its partner a berry. Sweetness.

Cedar Waxwings

I went digging in my archives and came up with a photo of one more pink bird, seen right here in the city.

!!!!

Blessing of the animals

This chick was one of the animals being blessed at the Feast of St Francis at St John the Divine

The color pink is said to have a calming effect on people. When I see it, I feel happier and hopeful. Birds have been found to see a much wider range of color than we do, so I have to wonder what they see when they look at each other, or when the sun goes down and turns the sky brilliant colors. Can they see this muted color as we do, are are they seeing much, much more?

Starling

Monday, February 1, 2021

Christo and Amelia weather the snowstorm

Just as the snow started falling late Sunday, I found resident red-tails, Christo and Amelia, hanging out together in their old nest tree in Tompkins Square. They've been spending time in this tree recently, so I hope that means they're considering it for their nest this season.

Amelia is perched high, Christo is down low:

Today, as the snowstorm really got going, I found the pair perched together in a tree on the west side of the park. Amelia is on the left and Christo is on the right.

Due to the weather conditions, I only had a pocket camera with me, and it was easier to take video.

After a few minutes, Amelia took off and Christo lingered in the area. I tried to get some decent shots of him but the wind and snow made it difficult. This was the best I could do, but you can see that he looks just fine.

Here's more video of Christo enduring the wind.

This wasn't Christo's first snowstorm - we captured him in worse conditions in 2016, and again in 2018 during a 'bomb cyclone'. The hawks (and other birds) can handle winter weather with their warm down coats, and seeing the hawk pair together in the park is a good sign that spring is not that far away.