A young adult red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) spent two months in Riverside Park in Manhattan, from July to August 2021. The bird is banded with a silver-colored band, and we started calling this hawk Silver Band (there is another hawk we’ve been seeing with a blue band, and we’ve been calling that hawk Blue Band). This hawk liked to hunt near the playground at 97th Street, and could also be found on the air-conditioners of buildings on the side streets off Riverside Drive.
A friend reported the band number and received word that the hawk was banded in New Jersey.
Silver Band with a rat dinner, Riverside Park, August 28, 2021
Silver Band is a very adept hunter, and I did get to see the hawk catch both rats and a robin. These photos were taken July 28 and August 18, 25 and 28, 2021. On August 25, Silver Band was screaming at another hawk, and when I finish the video, you should be able to hear the threatening keer.
