Blue grosbeak eats bees in Battery Park

A celebrity bird has come to town.  This one hasn't attracted the huge crowds that the Painted Bunting drew in 2015, but he is a rare and special visitor nonetheless.

Meet the Blue Grosbeak:



This young male was spotted at the beehives in Battery Park on Monday and his presence quickly made the birding news circuit.  It's easy to see why - he's quite spectacular.





I've never seen a Blue Grosbeak before, so I was (and still am) pretty excited to see him. 



I was especially interested to see him in action, feasting on bees.





One bee watches as her pal gets chomped.



If you're in the Battery Park area, it's worth paying this little guy a visit.







See more photos of this handsome guy on my Flickr page.

Tompkins Square hawk nest status remains a mystery

The number of hawk babies up in the nest in Tompkins Square is still difficult to determine.  Christo and Dora definitely have one, possibly more, but it's been a challenge to get a good view of what's happening up there.  We will just have to wait for the nestling(s) to get bigger.

Over the weekend, I managed to get this rather awful photo of Dora feeding a chick.  It's the whitish blob to the right of the branch that runs vertically up from the nest in the center of the photo.



The weather has also been uncooperative for photos - it's been mostly cloudy, rendering the nest dark.  When the sun comes out, the hawks cover the nest.  There's not been too much activity other than Christo hunting and Dora fetching greenery once in a while.



Here she is with a long piece of bark.



I found Christo hanging out in his favorite patch of wildflowers.



What did he picked up from the grass?



It's small, dark and pointy...



It's a severed starling head!



He flew right at me with it and made his "growling" sounds.  I've never heard another hawk make the sounds he does and I can't seem to find any documentation on this type of vocalization.  If anyone knows about this, I'd love to know more.  The sound he makes is not the hawk scream, or the food cry, but it's more like a low cat growl. He does it while flying.

Christo took the starling head to a nearby tree and ate it.  He usually eats the head of his prey first, so I was surprised to see him scavenge this one.  Perhaps he dropped it earlier when he caught the starling.  The patch of wildflowers under the locust tree on the east side of the park seems to be a dumping ground for discarded prey parts, so anyone thinking of laying on the grass in there should take note.

Christo recently displayed some other interesting behavior.  I've previously seen him scrape the fur off a squirrel tail before eating the rest of the squirrel.  I assumed he did this so the furry tail didn't tickle his face while eating.  On this day, however, Christo ate some squirrel and then removed the fur from the tail.  He took the bare-tailed body back to the nest.







Although he left the bare tail on the squirrel, Christo did clip off the fuzzy tip, which fell to the ground in front of me.



On Sunday, Christo was harassed by a kestrel while perching on top of the Christodora.  No respect!



Meanwhile, a plastic bag made its way up to the nest.  I don't believe the hawks took it up there - it likely blew up there on its own.  After a couple of days, it was gone.  Just a reminder that our litter does affect wildlife.



I hope to have an update on the number of baby hawks soon. I'll post when I know.

Colors of spring

Spring bird migration is underway and below are a few visitors who are passing through the East Village.  Except where noted, these were all found in Tompkins Square Park.

Eastern Towhee (male):



I really liked his drink your tea song, which can be heard here.



I waited near these spectacular pink cherry blossoms for a bird to pose.  After an hour of waiting, the Towhee finally perched for about two seconds.



Female Towhee:



One of my favorites, the Northern Parula.  Their colors really popped on an otherwise dark and dreary day.



This little guy was stuffing himself with insects found in the leafy branches of a Red Oak tree.



Black and White Warbler:



While the Parulas hunted insects in the branches of the oak tree, the Black and White focused on insects found in the bark of the trunk. 



As this is a year-round resident (they also migrate), I often take the Blue Jay for granted, but they really are stunning.  The one below was foraging in the garden at Avenue B and 6th Street.



Blue Jays are talented mimics, and I've been tricked many times by jays making hawk calls in Tompkins Square.  I've had some embarrassing moments running across the park thinking I am following Christo, only to find a jay in his place.  Here is an example of a Blue Jay impersonating a Red-shouldered hawk.

Palm Warbler:



House Finch (male):



Tufted Titmouse:



Apparently, Titmice have a thing for hair.  They like to use it in their nests.  Here is a video of one plucking fur from a dog, and another goes for a lady's head.  Hang on to your toupees!

White-Breasted Nuthatch:



Goldfinch (male):



Baltimore Oriole (male):



In addition to the Blue Jay, another bird I take for granted is the House Sparrow.  At first glance, they appear boring brown, but they really are colorful, especially the rusty cap on the males.  Of all the birds in the park, I think they are the most numerous and social.  They're always willing to pose for photos.



Is this my good side?



I've been seeing more Grackles in this city this year.  I really love their iridescent blue and purple feathers that contrast with their bright yellow eyes.



More to come...

Christo and Dora display teamwork

Urban Hawks has confirmed that Christo and Dora have at least one kid up in their nest in Tompkins Square.  In this video taken on May 1, you can see a fuzzy white baby head bobbing around.  Time will tell if the nestling has any siblings.

With at least one hungry youngster, the hawks have been busy with feedings.  On Saturday, I caught them engaged in some interesting teamwork.  Christo perched on the edge of the nest and tore up food, which he passed over to Dora.  She, in turn, fed the little one(s) down below in the bottom of the nest. 



I've never seen them work together this way and they kept it up for about 15-20 minutes.



When the feeding was done, Christo went off to fetch some food for the adults.  He dove down to the ground on the east side of the park...



...and lingered a bit in some wildflowers.



I thought he'd caught something fresh, but Christo popped up with an old leg o' rat.





As he flew past me...



Christo took the rat leg back up to the nest.



Dora, who'd been flying around stretching her wings, came swooping in.  It's hard to see in the photo below, but her talons appear to be just about to grab Christo's back as he's bent over in the nest.



The hawks keep the nest clean by removing old food and eating it elsewhere, so Dora took the rat leg and flew it to a nearby tree to have her dinner.







Christo stretches after a busy day hunting and feeding his family.



I'll end with this photo as it show's Christo's near perfect symmetry and his beautiful tail.

 

See many more recent hawk photos on my Flickr page.