Hawk Fights

It's winter, and time for visiting juvenile red-tailed hawks in Central Park. They're coming through, trying to establish themselves, and sometimes they fight with each other, or the resident adult hawks knock them off their branches and chase them out.

On Christmas Eve, we were following a first-year hawk as he hunted and flew around the Bethesda Fountain area. We called him Stretch because he could really stretch his neck up to look around. While stretching that neck perched on a branch of a tree just west of Bethesda Fountain, he was smacked by another, larger first-year hawk. Thus was the first Battle of Bethesda Fountain. After the fight, Stretch flew south and the winning hawk surveyed her realm from a tree on the east side of the fountain. The following photos were pulled from the video, which you can see below.

Stretch, before the fight, hunting near Bethesda Fountain, December 24, 2017

Victoria, the victorious hawk, December 24, 2017

The victorious young hawk we named Victoria, and we followed her that evening and for several days after. On Christmas Day, we followed Vicky around the Bandshell/Bethesda area. She was hunting, and her Christmas wish was granted in the afternoon: a squirrel dinner.

Victoria on Christmas Day, after an attempt to catch a squirrel

I put together another video, called Ho! Ho! Hawks!!!, which covers December 25, 27, 29 and 31. Most of the video shows little Victoria, and there is graphic footage of her eating a squirrel and a rat. I tried to cut it down a bit, but it is interesting to watch how she keeps looking around to protect her meal while eating on the ground (the squirrel was too heavy to fly to a tree). There is a brief look at Fred, the West Side adult red-tailed hawk that believes Bethesda Fountain is his territory, looking down before chasing the kid.

These photos show the kid on December 25.

These photos are from December 27 and 31.

After New Year's Day, we saw Victoria on January 5 and 7. On the 7th, she was first near Strawberry Fields, where Ginger, Fred's red-tailed mate, was perched in a pine tree staring at her. The youngster flew east, but then flew to Cherry Hill, where Ginger chased her out. After more attempts to return, the youngster went after Ginger, and would probably have kept fighting if Fred hadn't swooped in and chased her off. Two kids fighting? Victoria wins. Victoria tag-teamed by two adult hawks? The adults, no question! Fortunately, I was able to film part of the battle.

Ducky, It's Cold Outside!

It has been really cold in New York since Christmas, and I've been going down to the 59th Street Pond to feed Woody and his buddies as the ice takes up more of their habitat, plus checking out the ducks and other waterfowl at the Reservoir in Central Park, and at the beaches at Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx, Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn and Great Kills on Staten Island. These birds seem so resilient in the freezing cold (although I have seen casualties, often the result of a duck or cormorant trying to land on the ice and breaking a leg).

Woody Wood Duck, Jan. 9, 2018, the Pond

Northern pintail and mallards, the Pond, Jan. 9

I put together a video homage to the ducks, geese, gulls and other water birds I've seen during the cold weather. I call it Cold Ducks!!! and it's set to music by Debussy. It features hooded mergansers, ruddy ducks (including the only time I've seen one try to run on ice), a common loon, ring-billed gulls, buffleheads, greater scaup, herring gulls, Canada geese, wood ducks (Woody and his buddies at 59th Street, plus two at the Reservoir), long-tailed ducks (the first I've ever seen — a video of them to come soon!), ring-necked ducks (my second-favorite duck), mallards, northern pintail (Pinny), American coot, American black ducks, northern shovelers, great black-backed gulls, brant and red-breasted mergansers.

Below you can find a photo gallery of some of the cold ducks and other freezing birdies.

Hooded merganser on the Reservoir, Jan. 2

Northern pintail (Pinny) at the Pond, Jan. 9

Ring-necked duck on the Reservoir, Jan. 9

Ring-billed gull, Floyd Bennett Field, Jan. 10

The photos below were taken Dec. 27 and 28, 2017, and Jan. 2, 3, 9 and 10, 2018: Canada geese, long-tailed duck, hooded merganser (female), wood duck (Woody's nephew), wood duck (back, at Reservoir), male and female ring-necked ducks, black ducks, great black-backed gulls, northern pintail, herring gulls, American coot (you can really see those great "fern feet"), red-breasted merganser, more black-backed gulls.

Snow(y) Day!

We have lots and lots of snow today in New York City, and I've been hanging out at home editing my photos of the incredible bird I was blessed to visit on Staten Island just before and after Christmas.

Snowy owl, Staten Island, December 20, 2017

This was the first snowy owl (Bubo scandiacus) I had seen in the wild. (I have visited a snowy owl in the Bronx Zoo.) I was walking on the sand on the beach looking for the owl but seeing only gulls, when I turned and glimpsed what I first thought was an overturned paint bucket. What a joy to find this largest of the North American owls hanging out on a cold beach in New York City! I spent three and a half hours watching the owl, the first two hours pretty much by myself, and this video, although a little long, reflects the time I spent sitting on the beach and the burrs as the bird perched on the sand. If you are not as fascinated by the owl's turning her head 180 degrees one way, and then 180 degrees the other, you can skip to about minute 1:30 to see the bird poop and then walk around, then head to minute 14 to see those golden eyes as the sun starts to set. (I returned twice after Christmas to see the owl again, and will post those photos and videos soon.)

I took hundreds of photos on December 20, but these are my favorites.