Red-bellied Woodpecker

Bobby defends his turf, no sightings of the female Hawk – January 14th, 2015

A fellow Hawk-watcher spent most of the day in and around Washington Square Park in the hopes of spotting the female Red-tailed Hawk that was released in the park yesterday and to see if she was getting along with Bobby. I was in the park for two hours.

Between the two of us I think we missed maybe three hours of daylight and neither of us saw the female Red-tail. I’m not saying she wasn’t around but we weren’t fortunate to see her if she was.

We did see Bobby, a Cooper’s Hawk flying around the southern area of the park, and a Peregrine Falcon getting into three fights with Bobby over the course of my two hour visit.

Bobby was on the One Fifth Avenue building when I arrived:

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Nature photos from my trip

Although it would have been nice to have seen the Golden-handed Tamarin I showed in my last post in its natural habitat of South America, I truly got a kick out of seeing it and other amazing creatures while at the Dallas World Aquarium last week.

It’s not only an aquarium but a combination of several open aviaries, rain forests, and tanks. I have mixed emotions when it comes to zoos and such but have to say the DWA is a remarkably well-maintained facility and the animals and birds appeared to be healthy and happy.

I do not use flash when I take nature photos and didn’t even think to ask the staff if I could. In hindsight I think it would have been OK to do so (and the quality of my photos would probably have been a lot better if I had used flash since we were indoors) but overall I’m pretty happy with how my pics turned out and hope you get a feel of how extraordinary the creatures were.

Matschie’s Tree Kangaroo:

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Forest Park birds and Washington Square Park Hawk – April 7th, 2012

I spent three hours Saturday in Forest Park in Queens. It’s a huge 538 acre park. It was almost like being in the woods except for its man-made trails and people walking by every several minutes (most walking their dogs and a couple of people on horseback on the bridle path). It was a nice respite from the city and took only 35 minutes or so to get to by subway and walking.

It’s still a little early in the bird migration season so there weren’t too many unusual birds to see. But each day will bring new visitors. Most of the pictures taken below were lucky shots since the birds were very active and high up in the trees or deep in the bushes.

Male Cardinal singing (seen near the entrance):

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