Red-tailed Hawk landing on nest, Bobst Library, NYU, New York City

Month: February 2013

Mating Central Park Plaza Hawks – February 4th, 2013

A coworker’s office window has a partial view of Central Park. The sight of NYPD helicopters flying in tight formation over the park was too rare a thing to pass up photographing.

Today was the funeral for former New York City mayor Ed Koch. I had a hunch the helicopters might have had something to do with his funeral. I researched this tonight and found one of the onlyarticlesto mention this respectful flyby. Jpost.com read, “But just before the doors opened to the formal salute, where half-a-dozen helicopters were to pass overhead on the edge of Central Park, Koch’s family had the officers remove the flag, citing religious reasons.” As of this writing this was the only real substantive mention of this ceremonial procession I could find.

Continue to the full post… “Mating Central Park Plaza Hawks – February 4th, 2013”

Prospect Park Red-tailed Hawk eating a squirrel – January 13th, 2013

A friend and I happened upon this Red-tailed Hawk eating a squirrel as we were walking by Brooklyn’s Prospect Park on January 13th, 2013.

It was pretty hilarious that I stumbled on this Hawk not five minutes after reaching this park.

The chorus of squirrels giving their Hawk warning cry in nearby trees tipped me off to the presence of the Hawk. I stopped in my tracks and looked up and all around but I could not see the Hawk the squirrels were carrying on about. I was looking in the trees and nearby building tops.

My friend spotted the Hawk on the ground right in front of us, already eating. The squirrel looked like it had been dead a while (rigor mortis seemed to have set in or it was at least a day old). Perhaps the body was leftovers the Hawk had stashed in advance (common practice for Hawks).

The Hawk could not be seen from the sidewalk unless you were standing right at the stone fence lining the park. This distance from the sidewalk was good in that it provided the Hawk enough cover to eat in relative peace.

At one point a runner passed the Hawk, completely unaware of its presence.You can hear the squirrels sounding their alarm calls throughout the video.I only had a more simple point and shoot camera with me at the time but thank goodness I did or else I would have missed the chance to record and share this footage.


Cooper’s Hawk and brief Bobby and Rosie flyby – February 3rd, 2013

The lighting during my visit to Washington Square Park today was a photographer’s nightmare (cloudy, soupy, changeable, and especially dark under the trees) so I just had to make do as best I could.

Angry Blue Jay cries attracted me to a couple of trees at the eastern side of the park. They were fussing over a juvenile Cooper’s Hawk in their midst:

Continue to the full post… “Cooper’s Hawk and brief Bobby and Rosie flyby – February 3rd, 2013”