Month: January 2012

Twenty minutes in Central Park during lunch today brought some cute sights!

The pond has a thin layer of ice in some parts:

Continue to the full post… “Central park bird walk – January 20, 2012”

Thanks go to JumpFlapper for filling me in on the Washington Square Park hawks’ activities during the week:

– Monday the 16th: Rosie was calmer than usual. Toward the end of the day, she caught a large rat in the brush. She ate most of it on the ground where she had caught it before she took the remaining portion to a tree to eat. Those watching her heard the rat cry out as it died. Bobby joined Rosie on her branch and took what was left of the rat. It was thought that she had given it to him/allowed him to take it. Bobby brought the rat to a new location, eating it while seated atop a familiar light on a building roof. Bobby then flew to a different building before roosting at one of his favored trees. Rosie was not seen again after leaving the tree where the rat handoff to Bobby occurred.

Continue to the full post… “Hawk report from the last few days”

Rosie and Bobby seemed to be in a playful mood during the early part of my visit to Washington Square Park on Sunday. Rosie enjoys diving into the flock of pigeons that is regularly fed at the western entrance to the park. She doesn’t appear to be hunting when she flies into them but instead looks to be enjoying throwing them into a panic. I’ve never seen her eat a pigeon so I think the odds are good that diving into them is a form of play for her.

She dove into a couple of different flocks a few times which was pretty hilarious but the lady feeding the pigeons wasn’t too thrilled with the flybys. If I’m not mistaken, I think Bobby had a turn at diving into the pigeons as well. If that’s the case, maybe Rosie’s playfulness is rubbing off on him. But if I’m wrong and Bobby didn’t dive into the pigeons as well, I hope to be corrected by any of the folks watching the hawks with me today.

Yesterday was a gray day but on Sunday we were lucky to enjoy bright sunlight and blue skies despite the bitter cold (I think the high temperature was 25 degrees Fahrenheit).

Continue to the full post… “Rosie and Bobby’s play time and sunshine – January 15, 2012”