Winter raptors in the East Village

I love this time of year when raptors are active and fairly easy to find in the neighborhood. The leaves are off the trees, enabling birds to be quickly spotted, but they can also be found by listening for their calls.

One recent afternoon, I was walking along busy Houston Street when I heard the loud calls of a Cooper's hawk. I followed the sound to a tree where I found an adult Cooper's perched and sounding off to an immature Cooper's who was in another tree across the street.



In the video below, you can hear the calls of the immature hawk who is out of frame, and the answering calls made by this adult.



In this video, the adult Cooper's fluffs up its feathers, dramatically changing its shape to look bigger. I don't know what was prompting this behavior.  At the time, there was a Peregrine falcon perched a block away on the cross of Most Holy Redeemer church, but from their positions, it didn't seem like the hawks were reacting to its presence. It was fascinating to watch nonetheless.



On a different day, I came across a young red-tailed hawk perched on a fire escape on 2nd Avenue. I first saw it pulling pieces off a dead pigeon that was hanging from a cornice, then it flew across the street to this building and dug around in a window box before perching on the railing.





A second immature red-tail (I'm not sure how many are around at this time) has been seen in the area. It has a very stern expression, as you can see from the photos below. By contrast, the hawk in the above photo and video has facial markings that give it more of a baby face.





I'm most excited to report I've been seeing a Merlin fairly regularly along Avenue A.  These small falcons go after sparrows and starlings, of which there are many in the area.



I was lucky to catch this guy perched, as he flies so fast, he's gone in a flash.



Meanwhile, January 6 marked a milestone as it was the first time I've seen Amelia perch on the base of the dome of Most Holy Redeemer Church. 



This was a regular perch for Dora, but I hadn't seen Amelia go up there until this day. Christo has been perched in this spot recently, so the next milestone will be seeing Christo and Amelia there together.



One place the hawks do like to perch together is on the roof of the Christodora House. Be sure to look up at the building on Avenue B and 9th Street and see if you can spot the two sentinels keeping watch over their territory.



When Christo is not on guard duty, he spends leisure time in Tompkins Square watching basketball. On Monday, just before sunset, I found him taking in a game by the handball courts (see video below).





Ok, Christo is actually hunting along the fence and not really into the basketball game, but he's obviously so tolerant of human activity, he feels comfortable being so close to them. And I appreciated that the kids didn't interfere with his business although they knew he was there. It was really nice to see everyone coexisting peacefully.

Mulchfest 2019 in Tompkins Square Park

I attended my tenth annual Mulchfest in Tompkins Square Park this last weekend and it did not disappoint!

A crisp 25°F and bright sunshine Saturday morning made for perfect wood-chipping conditions, and as usual, the smell of minced Christmas trees was heavenly.





The wood-chipper in action:







Dumping the mulch on the former site of beloved Bendy Tree:





Workers from the NYC Parks Department were on hand to distribute bags so people could take home fresh mulch, which can be used in yards, tree wells and as a potpourri.



Last year, the bags were decorated with the NYC Parks Department logo, but I like the design this year, which features a Christmas tree.



Enjoy the next few weeks in Tompkins Square as the scent of evergreens blankets the park.


See previous Mulchfest posts here.

Rounding out 2018 and looking forward to a new year of birds

Welcome to a new year!

I had a personal 2018 goal to keep a bird checklist each day. This not only gave me something to look forward to each day, it provided a constant challenge to seek out something new. I plan to keep the same goal in 2019 and recommend using the citizen science site, eBird, for keeping records. It's not only fun, but is educational provides useful information to scientists studying bird migrations.

Bird migration in New York this last fall turned out to be a spectacular season and I was introduced to several species I'd never seen before. I couldn't get photos of all of them, but below are some highlights of birds seen in the city.

Hermit Thrush:



Tufted Titmouse:





Chipping Sparrow:



Field Sparrow:



Song Sparrow:



Dark-Eyed Junco:



American Goldfinch:



Purple Finch:



Golden-Crowned Kinglet:



Ruby-Crowned Kinglet:



Palm Warbler:



Black-Throated Green Warbler:



American Coot:



Northern Shoveler:



Wood Duck:



And, finally...the obligatory Mandarin Duck in Central Park, who made headlines this last year:

Winter holiday hawk round-up

Winter holiday time is traditionally when we see an uptick in hawk action around the neighborhood.  This year is no exception, but the recent string of dark and overcast days has made photography a challenge. Below are a few highlights from days when the clouds parted enough for me to capture Christo, Amelia and a few intruders in their territory.

I found Christo perched on the east side of Most Holy Redeemer church on E 3rd Street on a bright and cold morning.



Amelia often perches on the church cross, but I have yet to see her join Christo at the base of the dome like Dora used to do.



Earlier this week, Christo made an impressive dive from the roof of the Christodora House...



...to his flagpole throne in Tompkins Square.



Here is a closer look at Christo's pretty brown eyes. When he first arrived in the neighborhood five years ago, his eyes were a much lighter amber. They've deepened in color as he's matured.



Amelia's eye color is light brown and can be seen even as she soars.  This has been one way for me to identify her at a distance, although it's not very reliable as her eye color will also change with age.





Christo and Amelia have been spending a lot of time defending their territory against other young red-tails, who have been pretty brazen about coming into the park. The one pictured below kept flying around Tompkins Square despite being chased by both resident adults.



Below is another immature red-tail on 2nd Street who just wouldn't take a hint when Christo and Amelia kept diving at it. They chased it over to First Avenue, then into the Village View housing complex.



Cooper's hawks are also in the area. I've counted at least one adult and two immature Cooper's hawks around the park, but there could be more. In the past, the red-tails have mostly tolerated the Cooper's hawks, but as nesting season approaches, Christo and Amelia are getting more aggressive about chasing them out of the area. Below is an immature Cooper's on 6th Street near Avenue A.



This is another immature Cooper's hawk in the New York City Marble Cemetery on E 2nd Street.



Most of the hawk activity I've been seeing has been happening high in the air over Tompkins Square and the surrounding streets. As the weather improves and we see some sunny days, the hawks should be easier to spot, especially now that the trees have lost their leaves.

As yet, there has been no sign of nest-building, but Christo and Amelia have been hanging out in the ginkgo tree on the east side of Tompkins, so I hope they choose to use that location again for their nest.  This will be the first nest Christo and Amelia construct together, as the previous one was built by Dora, and then mostly by Christo as he spent last winter without her. We can look forward to seeing stick-gathering and other nesting activity in January/February.

Until then, Christo is staying vigilant in Tompkins Square.

Dora update: living well with a new guy at WINORR

We've heard from the folks at Wildlife in Need of Rescue and Rehabilitation (WINORR) that our lovely Dora is doing well and has a new mate, a handsome young male red-tailed hawk named Winston.

Here is the couple pictured below, with Dora on the left and Winston on the right. All the photos are courtesy of Bobby Horvath.

Dora was taken to WINORR on April 4 after being unable to fly back up to her nest in Tompkins Square Park. She had suffered a wing injury and, although did not have any broken bones, sustained damage that left her unable to function properly in the wild. It is not known if she will ever be released, but we can say for certain she will not be returning to Tompkins Square Park.

It looks like Dora is happy hanging out with Winston, who also has a wing injury that keeps him from being unable to live in the wild. The two have bonded and I'm glad the drama of the last year has had a positive conclusion.

Bobby and Cathy Horvath take care of Dora, Winston and many more injured birds and animals out of the kindness of their hearts. They receive no funding for all their hard work, so please consider making a donation to their cause.

Christo featured in 2019 Peregrine Fund calendar

Our local Tompkins Square red-tailed hawk, Christo, is featured for the month of August in the 2019 Peregrine Fund "Birds of Prey" calendar.

The image is of Christo on an extremely hot summer day drinking water from the General Slocum memorial fountain in Tompkins Square Park.

Calendars are available for purchase from the Peregrine Fund (PDF order form), or you can receive one for free when making a donation. The Peregrine Fund does inspiring work to conserve raptors. You can read more about what they do and how to get involved on their website.