Speedo Hawk's Hunting Skills

I was thrilled to watch Speedo Hawk, one of Pale Male's two offspring this year, showing of hunting skills on August 18 and 20. I did a video, and took lots of pictures both days. Right now, photos from August 18 are included. Photos from August 20 have been added.

Speedo hawk, north of the Met Museum, evening, August 18, 2016.

A note about the video: The first date was incorrect. The first day was August 18. For some reason I labeled all the photos and video clips from August 18 8-19-2016, and thus messed up. I have redone the video, but decided to just let the dates be wrong on YouTube. I don't think the world will collapse with the uncorrected errors.

August 18, 2016

August 20, 2016

Pale Male and His Kids Find Dinner

There are three graphic videos in this posting. I watched Pale Male, our Central Park celebrity red-tailed hawk, dining on pigeon on June 30, after repeatedly calling to his two youngsters to "come 'n' get it!" On July 7, I saw one of his youngsters raiding a robins' nest, and on July 9, I saw a Pale Male youngster eating a starling.

On July 7, after I finished a day of background work in Queens, I return to Manhattan and got off the train at 59th Street and Fifth Avenue. I saw Woody, then walked north to Conservatory Pond to look for Pale Male's kids. I found one sitting above the tables at the outdoor cafe east of the water.

The young hawk looked around, spotted something, then flew near the Alice in Wonderland statue and perched briefly ...

... before returning just north of the cafe, where it attacked a robins' nest. The young hawk ate the robin nestlings, as I saw his father do last year so many times, as the hysterical robins cried and bombarded the predator to no avail.

I do not recommend this video to any who are upset by violence in nature. I almost couldn't watch, although I did take the video (which is very jumpy in spots). These hawks are so beautiful, but they can be brutal.

The bird then flew to a tree just south, where the youngster was joined by the sibling. The sibling had a crop the size of a cantaloupe, indicating the young hawk had also eaten very well. When I left, the two birds were perched, one atop the other, in the tree.

On July 9, a Pale Male kid ate starling. I am not sure whether the young hawk caught it, or if it was brought in by Pale Male. 

On June 30 around noon, Central Park's celebrity red-tailed hawk, Pale Male, flew over the 79th Street transverse with a pigeon and landed on a tree above Glade Arch. He called his two youngsters to have lunch. He kept calling as he plucked the pigeon and moved to another branch. After a quarter of an hour, he began to eat the pigeon, but kept calling softly to his fledglings. They never came, and Pale Male finished the meal.

I then left for the Yankees game, with some very striking video and photos.

Pale Male with pigeon, Glade Arch, June 30.

I did not add music to the video, and kept as much sound on as I could so you can hear the robins and blue jays screaming and hear the camera clicks. I removed the inane conversations I was hearing.

Fun on the Ground at Tompkins Square Park

The three red-tailed hawk fledglings at Tompkins Square Park have provided many hours of joy as they play on the ground and have family dinner with Dora and Christo, their parents. I spent June 15, 18, 19 and 23 at the park and took lots of video and photos.

Laura Goggin has a terrific blog about the Tompkins Square hawks. She takes some incredible photos.

Tompkins Square Fledgling, June 23, 2016

There are two videos, both set to Mozart, to enjoy.

Here are some photos from the trips downtown. I like the first two — you can see Dora in the first, and her kid in the second. Note the family resemblance! I've posted more photos on the Red-Tailed Hawks: Tompkins Square Park page.