“Krider's” Red-tailed Hawk Links: 7-Aug-2007

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Adult Red-tailed Hawk in Pale Male's Space

Adult Red-tailed Hawk
CENTRAL PARK — 85TH St. & 5TH AVE.
Image by BEN CACACE
(Click image for a larger view)

Tonight this adult Red-tailed Hawk was spotted near the north edge of Pale Male's territory. The hawk has a red tail. It was just inside the 85th St. & 5th Ave. entrance. Blue Jays and Robins were making a racket.

History of 5th Ave. Red-tailed Hawks

Attached is the document ‘History of the Fifth Avenue Red-tailed Hawks as of 4/21/06’ produced by Jim Lewis and supplied to me by Marie Winn. I've uploaded the document to my site in order to make it available to the public.

Click on the title in quotes to view the chart ... Enjoy!

Bald Eagle on Reservoir 24-Feb-2007

Bald Eagle - juvenile
CENTRAL PARK — RESERVOIR
Image by BEN CACACE
(Click image for a wider view)

Update 9-Apr-2007: I've spoken to a number of birders from Central Park who have birded there awhile and/or know the history of sightings in the park and the consensus is that this is the first confirmed sighting of a Bald Eagle landing in Central Park! Update to original post: added a full frame image to show the amount of cropping and some additional details surrounding the reservoir. The eagle was spotted at 8:30 am and left shortly after finishing its meal at 9:20 am. The image is taken from the east looking towards the west. [Click ‘Read More...’ below if you are on the main page.]

DATE: Saturday, 24 February 2007 (7:50a-2:20p)
LOCATION: Central Park - reservoir to south end of park
OBSERVERS: Omar Morales, Ben Cacace
REPORTED BY: Ben Cacace

Even though the reservoir was almost completely frozen over we decided to take a trip around the running track. The only open water on the reservoir continues around the 'fountain' in the SW quadrant. In this opening were ~50 Canada Geese, 6 American Coots & several Ring-billed Gulls. It's unfortunate I didn't make an exact count of the gulls.

As we made our way along the east side of the reservoir heading north I noticed the gulls had just lifted off the reservoir. I always look for raptors in the sky when this happens since this is sometimes the reason for the scare. This time the reward was a juvenile Bald Eagle carrying one of the Ring-billed Gulls. The eagle started climbing a bit but then started settling into descending loops and finally landed out in the middle of the reservoir on the ice.

It was almost immediately joined by 3 crows waiting on scraps.

We didn't spot the eagle arriving but saw it shortly after the gulls lifted. It already had the Ring-billed in its talons.

Also seen were 6 Red-tailed Hawks. Both sets of adults from the 5th Ave. nest and the Trump Parc nest. A Red-tailed was seen north of the reservoir. On my way to the south end there was a juvenile RT feasting on a pigeon just east of the Falconer's statue.

Red-tailed Hawk — juvenile
CENTRAL PARK — FALCONER'S ROCK
Image by BEN CACACE
(Click image for a larger view)

The male Northern Pintail continues on The Pond at the south end of the park.

** Total species - 33 **

'Infrequent' migrants [1 spp]:
+ Northern Pintail - 1 male on The Pond at S end of park

'Less Common' migrants [3 spp]:
+ Bald Eagle - 1 juvenile (probable 1st year) on the reservoir's ice feeding on a Ring-billed Gull
+ Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 1 heard near Chess & Checkers House
+ Fox Sparrow - 1 just N of Swedish Cottage W of Shakespeare Garden

'Common' migrants [13 spp]:
- American Black Duck - At least 6 incl. 4 on the lake plus 2 on The Pond
- Northern Shoveler - At least 12 on the lake
- Ruddy Duck - At least 3 on the lake (2f/1m)
- American Coot - 6 continue on the reservoir
- Northern Flicker - 2 incl. 1 female near Locust plus 1 male on Sheep Meadow
- White-breasted Nuthatch - At least 6 throughout the park
- American Robin - 2 in The Oven (Ramble)
- Eastern Towhee - 1 male around Strawberry Fields
- Song Sparrow - 1 on N edge of Turtle Pond
- White-throated Sparrow - Several dozen throughout the park (~100)
- Red-winged Blackbird - 2 adult males around Evodia Field feeders
- Common Grackle - At least 2 dozen (~24)
- American Goldfinch - At least 4 around Evodia Field feeders

Year round residents [16 spp]:
- Canada Goose - Approximately 50 in open water near the reservoir's fountain
- Mute Swan - 4: 2 on the lake plus 2 on The Pond
- Mallard - Approximately 100 on the lake plus 100 on The Pond
- Red-tailed Hawk - 6: 1 N of reservoir, 2 adults: 5th Ave nest, juv feeding near Falconer's statue, adults: S end nest
- Ring-billed Gull - Several dozen on the lake including several on the reservoir before the Bald Eagle arrived (~48)
- Rock Pigeon - Several dozen (~80)
- Mourning Dove - Several throughout the park (~6)
- Red-bellied Woodpecker - Several seen and heard (~4)
- Downy Woodpecker - Several seen and heard (~5)
- Blue Jay - Several throughout the park (~12)
- American Crow - 3 on the reservoir interacting with Bald Eagle while waiting for scraps
- Tufted Titmouse - At least a dozen throughout the park (~12)
- European Starling - At least 12 throughout the park
- Northern Cardinal - At least 4 in The Ramble
- House Finch - At least 2 dozen around Evodia Field feeders (~24)
- House Sparrow - At least 3 dozen (~36)

Central Park Reservoir: 16-Feb-2007

American Coots (6)
CENTRAL PARK — RESERVOIR
Images by BEN CACACE
(Click image for a larger view)

Last night I made my first trip to the reservoir after work seeing that sunset is starting to fit in with quitting time.

I arrived at 5:26pm, roughly 5 minutes before sunset. I left the reservoir a few minutes before 6pm. I didn't know what shape the reservoir would be in but I wasn't too surprised that the ice coverage is close to 100%.

The only sizeable open water exists just south and east of the ‘fountain’ near the reservoir's south edge.

The waterfowl in this small open area has been filtered down to American Coots. These were the only ducks on the reservoir.

‘Birds of North America’ on-line says this about their flight:

“An extended period of Splattering along water’s surface required to become airborne …”

I wonder if this is the reason only coots remain.

Before leaving the reservoir a single White-throated Sparrow landed in a leafless bush. It called for a time while looking for a place to rest. It finally perched on the downwind side of a branch and appeared to have settled in for the night.

Before exiting the park at 81st St. & Central Park West a Red-tailed Hawk was seen roosting on the window frame of the Beresford Building's south-east tower. With westerly winds this appeared to be a very comfortable perch.

Film Featuring a Red-tailed Hawk (2006)

Paul Giamatti ‘The Hawk is Dying’ (click pic for reviews)

I just came across this film starring Paul Giamatti (‘Sideways’, ‘Cinderella Man’, ‘Private Parts’ …) released in 2006 called The Hawk is Dying.

Here's the plot outline from IMDb: “A Gainesville Florida auto upholsterer (Giamatti) attempts to subvert his mundane life by training a wild, red-tailed hawk.”

From the IMDb biography of Paul Giamatti — “During the shooting of the upcoming The Hawk Is Dying (2006), which is mainly about his character and a Red-Tailed Hawk, he became a raptor-enthusiast.”

An interview at the A.V. Club features some questions on the movie. Towards the end of page 2 and the beginning of 3 are comments from Paul on the film. Here's one quote from the A.V. Club interview:

PG: I like that movie a lot. If anyone tells me they've seen it, I'm curious as to what they thought about it. People seemed to have a hard time with it at Sundance, so I was curious as to why. It's not that strange of a movie. It didn't feel like it was.

The Wikipedia article on the movie mentions that “The Hawk Is Dying is based on the book by Harry Crews.“

Here are some reviews from Rotten Tomatoes.

Red-Tailed Hawk vs. Bald Eagle (Flickr)

Red-Tailed Hawk vs. Bald Eagle - II
Originally uploaded by tsmzth.

This is an attempt to blog directly from Flickr using Flickr's built in 'Blog This' icon.

This and another 2 images show a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk interacting with a sub-adult Bald Eagle. I've never seen a photo like this with both raptors in the same frame.

One time I watched as an adult Red-tailed Hawk harassed a juvenile Bald Eagle as it passed through the RT's territory. The territory belonged to the south end of Central Park nesting Red-tailed Hawks.

Here are links to all 3 images [BE-RT1], [BE-RT2] & [BE-RT3].

Central Park: Sub-adult Red-tailed Hawk

Sub-adult Red-tailed Hawk
Central Park, NYC near Winterdale Arch
Image by BEN CACACE
(click image above / additional photos below)

A young Red-tailed Hawk showed up in Central Park this summer. On the 4th of July this hawk was photographed by Lincoln Karim. Lincoln has posted 10 photos of this one year old hawk which has just started to grow in its adult red tail feathers.

A Red-tailed's juvenile feathers drop out as the adult ones grow in after its first year. Lincoln's photos demonstrate this is a first year hawk and is considered a sub-adult. According to the books, adult plumage is acquired in a hawk's second year. A sub-adult may retain some juvenile wing and tail feathers before its second year molt.

The tail feathers (retrices) of a Red-tailed Hawk are numbered 1 through 6 starting from the center making up a total of 12 feathers. Each feather is paired symmetrically and preceded with the letter ‘r’. The r1 tail feathers are the centermost ones. When the tail is folded these feathers are visible when viewing a hawk from behind. The r6 tail feathers are the outermost ones and are visible on the folded tail when viewing a hawk from the front.

The tail feathers on this hawk, from the 4th of July photos, appears to have only adult r1s & r2s.

A few weeks after Lincoln's photos I spotted this hawk on the 18th, 19th & 23rd of July. At the time of these observations the r1, r2 & r6 tail feathers were red. The r6s were much shorter than the r1s & r2s.

I spotted this hawk again on August 4th which is when I took these photos near Winterdale Arch east of ‘Locust Grove’. In these images both the r3 & r4 feathers have grown in since the 23rd of July. The only juvenile tail feathers appear to be the r5s. Even with binoculars I wasn't able to pick up other juvenile feathers.

Will these r5 feathers remain until this hawk molts again next summer?

Click images for an uncompressed view of the tail

Raptors At Sunset: 21-April-2006

Central Park South: Red-tailed Hawk & Peregrine Falcon

Portion of ‘ESSEX HOUSE’ Sign

(click image to view uncropped)

The image above shows the adult male Red-tailed Hawk, from the Trump Parc nest, perching on the ‘X’ on the Essex House sign tonight (Fri., 21-Apr). When I arrived at 6:55pm he was already there.

Around 7:32pm I happened to be looking at the hawk in the binoculars as it headed off to roost for the night. Sunset was at 7:41pm.

Before it disappeared from view it pulled off one of coolest moves I've seen in awhile. As it left its perch it dove, then rose a bit losing quite a bit of speed. I thought it was going to stall or veer off in another direction.

Instead, after it reached the top of the stall, it proceeded in the same direction and dove steeply. A few seconds into the drop it started to pull up again. This is when I lost it behind some trees.

This undulating flight is one of the more deliberate bits of ‘fun’ I've seen in quite some time. This was observed from Gapstow Bridge (south of Wollman Rink) while I was keeping one eye on a Peregrine Falcon and the other on this Red-tailed Hawk.

‘Birds of North America’ on-line refers to this as a ‘Sky-dance’ used in both agonistic behavior and courtship displays. Quite a versatile tool.

At Bruce Yolton's blog you can see an image of this male Red-tailed Hawk taken at around the same time. This hawk is referred to as ‘Junior’. The photo above was taken at 7:06pm. Check out the second image down in ‘Watching Paint Dry’ for a nearly simultaneous close-up.

Central Park South: Peregrine Falcon

(click image to view uncropped)

The first raptor spotted from the park was this Peregrine Falcon perched on the G.M. Building's roof. It stood on the north-west corner of the building from at least 6:55pm.

There was little activity until the falcon flew to a fence on the north face below the building's roof. From here it took a flight close to a place where the pair might be nesting. I'm looking for a few more views to confirm this suspicion.

The reason I think this is a nest site is due to the falcon's disappearing to this spot only to emerge from the floor of this space. This is exciting to see after watching Peregrines in the area for nearly 10 years.

From 7:48pm to 7:54pm the Peregrine perched on various fences below the G.M.'s roof. By 7:56pm I wasn't able to relocate it again. The end of Civil Twilight, when it becomes nearly impossible to see the Peregrines with binoculars, was 8:10pm.

The images above were taken around 7:00pm.

Related items:
• Peregrine Falcon updates — 2006: 13-Apr, 21-Apr, 24-Apr, 26-Apr, 28-Apr, 30-Apr, 4-May, 5-May, 6-May, 7-May, 9-May, 11-May, 12-May, 13-May, 14-May, 16-May, 17-May, 18-May, 19-May, 21-May, 22-May, 23-May, 31-May
• Earliest Peregrine Falcon Nest in N.Y.C.?
• Behavior of Peregrine Falcons in the N.Y.C. Region
      by Richard A. Herbert & Kathleen Green Skelton Herbert
• Obs. of Duck Hawks Nesting on Man-made Structures
      by Horace Groskin