The Pigeons at the World's Largest Culver's, Cedar Waxwings, and a Sleepy Robin

Here is a very tall Mobil sign, an eye catcher for all the nearby highways with pigeons on the top.

Just down the hill there is an apple sign, for the Big Apple Restaurant, with pigeons on the top.

 And triangulating with the previous two, see a tall Culver's sign, connected to, yes folks, the largest Culver's in the world, also with pigeons on top of that sign as well.

Now I'm supposed to be inside the Culver's taking pictures during a meeting of an antique tractor club.  No I'm not shirking.  I took  the pictures but then....

 ....how many pictures can you take of this?  (Don't worry I took pix with the windows at my back so you could actually see the people but after awhile....on a supposed trip to the ladies room, I ducked out the front door because I've been wanting to knew for months what the birds on the signs were up to....it's mid afternoon??? Besides the birds had to be doing something ever so much more interesting  than above.

And they were.  On the Mobil sign a pair of pigeons were copulating.  Not that I think that would be appropriate for the humans in the meeting but you catch my drift.

In fact on another day, I had noted that the pigeons on one sign would fly by twos or threes to other signs.  Visiting?  What?

I wanted to know.

 A few pigeons have taken to their wings from the Mobil sign...

And are going over to visit the pigeons on the giant apple.

2:33PM Perhaps some of the pigeons on the right are puffed up and napping?  Come to think of it, how is that pigeon managing to perch on the the tip of that leaf?  Drat.   Time for me to head back to the meeting before I'm missed.

I slip back in.

2:47PM  Then 12 minutes later I look out the window and see what?  Cedar Waxwings eating... tiny crab apples maybe?

I head for the door again.

The Waxwings appear to be having a grand time.

Look at how many have a fruit in their mouths.  They are eating as fast as they possibly can.

Then some of them notice me.

And some don't.  Great view of the rear of the species in the top right corner.  Note the yellow tip of the tail.

The side view.

And all this is going on right next to the drive-thru...and no one notices.  I go back to check on the meeting. 

They are currently discussing  a display of construction equipment and earth moving equipment.  A segment of people who have a tendency to get drunk and push down trees for fun if they aren't watched every second.  

Don't get me started. 

I leave by another door.

There's a Robin resting in a small tree.  Likely some kind of ornamental.

 He gives me a look.

And as I am much further away than this appears, he rests his beak on a twig, closes his eyes and appears to catch a nap.

I slip back in to finish my job.

Happy Hawking!

Donegal Browne

Sandhill Cranes Gather Their Kind Before the Snow Flies, Catfish Hunt Pigeons, More Adventures of Pyewackit and Squirrel/Cardiac Plus Is it a Sharpie or a Cooper's Hawk

 I heard the readily recognizable sounds of Sandhill Cranes from inside the living room. 

Yes, from inside the house. They are the loudest bird in the Americas and can be heard from two miles away.

  I headed outside and stared  north in the direction of the sound and stared some more.  Not a crane in sight.  I went back inside.

 Then some minutes  later I heard Cranes again this time from the north west.  

 There they were!   Over 50 of them heading SW!  And it was LOUD!

 And then out of the west came 30 or so more.  Also trumpeting.

 Closer.

The cranes then regrouped.  They sort of mingled together almost as if they were seeing individuals they might know and were greeting, then some formed a line and headed out.  While the others mingled momentarily.

A slightly closer view of the proceedings. 

They're all going about organizing themselves and no one ran into anyone else while I was watching.

Then they began to turn into the distance.

After observation they  appeared to be circling, calling, and drifting to collect all the cranes within hearing distance in order to collect all their brethren they could and be on their way before the bad weather closed in.

The photographs don't really do the moment justice.  Try double clicking on the photos to see larger images.

NEXT UP...

 Yes, ladies and gentleman, we are back to the age old question-  Is it a Sharp-shinned Hawk or a Cooper's Hawk?  

This time, check out the captures from a video from a friend of Sally of Kentucky.

What's your take?

 Yes, it is difficult to tell size.  One of the many inconclusive ways to tell these  two species apart.  But from the comparison of the hawk with the leaves on the bushes, it appears smallish to me.  Plus the legs look twig like.

 But then in this frame ,the legs look a little less twig like.

 Wasn't it our raptor man from Ohio, John Blakeman, who said that Sharpies always look kind of bug-eyed and hyper-thyroid?

But Sally of Kentucky, thought the legs seemed thicker like a Cooper's Hawk and I have to admit that the tail in the center photo does look decidedly curved on the end as she suggested.  A rounded tail being a clincher for IDing Cooper's Hawks.

Any thoughts? 

 Photo courtesy of http://news.yahoo.com

A find from Robin of Illinois!  Longtime readers will remember my discovery of city rats hunting pigeons in NYC but this one is even more astounding....European Catfish coming out of the water to nab pigeons.  Click the link below.
 http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/catfish-learning-hunt-pigeons-land-video-231659764.html

Here we have the kitten, Squirrel? Cardiac, playing with a stick jammed in the joint of a canvas camp chair.  See the claws looking a little dangerous?

Check out the instantaneous transformation to Feline from Hell as he spat at visitor Tig the Basenji.  And it truly was instantaneous.  Check out those laid back ears.

A study in cat expressions in the aftermath of a dog.  

One gets the impression that kittens don't hold any one thought for any amount of time. Or really think in a conscious way at all frequently, as they are often totally in the moment.   

Pye on the other hand is definitely holding a grudge.

Donegal Browne

UPDATE: FIFTH AVENUE POSSIBLY POISONED FLEDGLING CHANGES ROOST, UPDATE ON FLEDGLING IN REHAB, AND HOW TO CONTRIBUTE TO HER CARE!

UPDATE AND PHOTOS BY JEFF JOHNSON  (Many thanks Jeff!!!)

Got into the Park at 1850 and swept by the last known location of the sick fledge again with no joy. Vectored NW since the fledges seemed to be generally going that way and by luck came upon a very easily seen fledge because the light reflected off its breast so that it looked almost illuminated for a few minutes when seen from the NE quadrant. 

Sick fledge was very apparent from the NE. AT first I thought it to be Opera Star because it's body looks shrunken, despite the fact it has sort of ruffled out its feathers in a pillowed effect. 1911 Metadata time.

 Sick fledge from below shows pillowing of feathers and almost closed eyes. 1914 Metadata time.

Sick fledge from ESE close. Dark coloration strapped pattern and shriveled appearance make me think this really is the same sick fledge and not Opera Star. I didn't see or hear any Red-tails when I was in the Park for 45 minutes during the afternoon. This evening, the only Red-tail I could find was this sick one. 

No further information was shared about the fledge in rehab. I was told by hawk watchers that  the fledge I call Opera Star was seen in good health by the MET this afternoon. 1937 Metadata time.

(This makes sense as the Cafe Duo tend to share meals and likely ate from the same poisoned rat.)

 Tree (camera facing ESE along the east perimeter path to the center of The Great Lawn where the sick fledge roosted for tonight. I suppose we should take heart in that the fledge had the strength to move from the tree she was in to this one.  1941 Metadata time.

All I could find out Donegal.

Jeff 

You did well in finding her roost.  This fledgling is running out of time.  She's dehydrated, hungry, and likely having problems with internal bleeding and organ function.

If anyone finds her to be accessible, get a hold of her, (see below how to do that) and get her to rehab.

You get a hawk in hand by throwing something over her and getting her by the ankles and tucking her under your arm.  The beak isn't a problem, it is the talons one must watch for.  Though this hawk is so debilitated she probably wouldn't do much of anything.  Then get her into a cardboard box if you can (no cages, it wrecks their feathers until the next molt) and call the Horvaths at 516-293-0587. 

SOME GOOD NEWS ON THE FIFTH AVENUE FLEDGLING BEING CARED FOR BY THE HORVATHS!

(Though she isn't out of the woods yet!)

 From Cathy Horvath--

The Fifth Avenue fledgling had blood work done today and we should have results tomorrow. He looked a little better than yesterday , is perching well and bright eyed and alert this morning and is keeping food down. We are treating it even before results for poisoning and  for frounce too but don't know how much pigeon is eaten compared to definite rats being consumed regularly.

Go Cathy!

Far more rats are being eaten than pigeons.  Rats particularly poisoned ones, are far easier for the fledglings to catch.  Though Pale Male does give lessons to his young on pigeon hunting, and he is spectacular at it.

But the pigeon population is way down (No I absolutely do not hate pigeons, they are beautiful and smart and terrific but they are also part of the NYC food chain.  Hey I rehab pigeons, okay?) since the city instituted the no feeding ban in the city's green spaces.  

Therefore, as I think everyone should have a good life,  I'd  think feeding the pigeons outside the park discretely, just outside the park, healthy bird seed, early in the day, in an area in which the birds can easily see the seed, like the sidewalk,  and consume it ALL before nightfall when the rats will get it, might well make a difference to some hawks.  And also keep the pigeons happy, healthy, and capable of raising the next generation of beautiful urban pigeons for us to enjoy.

 

And last but not least, donations towards the care of  the Fifth Avenue Fledgling and many other animals  under the Horvaths care can be sent to-- 

Wildlife in Need of Rescue and Rehabilitation 

202 N Wyoming Ave
N Massapequa, New York 11758

Get out there and make a difference!

Donegal Browne

Pale Male Bangs Windows, and the 1 Police Plaza Hawk Is Back

Photograph courtesy of palemale.com
Pale Male sees his reflection in the window and goes for it with his extremely strong feet. BANG! At this point in the season he is so testosteroned out that he does a lot of this, which has to be a bit startling for the residents inside the apartments. Eventually you'll see many of the blinds go down on Fifth Avenue during the season at certain times of day when the reflection is most likely to catch his eye.

Photograph courtesy of palemale.com
Pale Male scopes the area from one of his favorite perches on the Linda Building. Note that today the blinds are closed and will likely remain closed for some months when no one is actively looking out the window.

In fact I've watched from the Hawk Bench as residents of Linda slowly approach an open blind from the side and gently pull it down as Pale Male sits on the wrought iron outside the window.

Photograph courtesy of palemale.com
Pale Male's Mate eyes a Robin. This Robin perched in the tree is not likely to be in much danger but I have seen Pale Male nab an unsuspecting Robin on the ground by flying in behind it..

Our hawk watching buddy Bill, down at 1 Police Plaza, after keeping an eye peeled for ages, has finally spotted the local hawk yet again.

Well I finally saw the hawk behind 1 Police plaza. All I had was my cell phone and it takes crappy pictures.

Anyway this guy/gal looked kind of small, but it was 30 feet in the air so who knows. Feasting on a pigeon. Didn’t seem the least bit concerned that an audience had formed.

Just thought I would forward it to you

Be well

Bill

I love the fact that people were interested enough to form a crowd and also that she (that's the universal "she", I don't know this bird's sex) was human habituated enough to enjoy her squab while being watched.

Which brings up another topic-

As a majority of you know, many an urban Hawk eats pigeons as a mainstay of their diet as does their young. Four years ago I did a study in Central Park and the Central Park hawks diet consists of 80% pigeon. When the pigeon flock fails due to lack of food, the hawks might be hungry enough to eat a dicey rat, (possibly poisoned) which ordinarily they'd only consider eating a nice healthy one. Therefore it would be nice if when eating lunch outside for instance, you might accidentally make sure the pigeons have some lunch too.

Though do absolutely make sure the food is all gone before dusk. The rats do just fine on their own when it comes to food. They have the capacity to rip open the thousands of plastic trash bags left on curbs and feast. Urban pigeon flocks often depend on direct feeding from humans to survive.

Happy Hawking!
Donegal Browne

Urban Raptors You May See On Your Fire Escape Plus a Hawk Kill Assumption

Young Peregrine Falcon, with still a few baby feathers sticking out of the top of her head.
(Talk about focus!)
Courtesy of the Wisconsin DNR

Why a Peregrine? I asked our Anonymous contributor near Ovington Avenue over in Brooklyn what sorts of perches he'd seen the hawks on, which led to some other interesting information and I decided it might be time to recap with photographs just which species of raptors tend to have taken the urban landscape to heart, have become residents, and we may see and like to identify.

Mature Cooper's Hawk
Courtesy of http://in.gov/

Here is Anon of Brooklyn's response to my question about perches--
The only perches I've seen the occasional hawk on is my fire escape (with the suet feeder). I don't know what kind of hawks these are but none of them appeared to have a red tail. So perhaps the hawk is either an immature Red-tail or a Cooper's hawk. Aside from the fire escape, the only other times I've seen any hawks is when they were being mobbed by angry crows.

However, the bird that wreaks the most terror is the little kestrel which zooms down in a dive bomb. All the birds--pigeons, house finches, sparrows, monk parrots--disappear in a flash.

I don't know where the pigeon coop guy gets his pigeons but almost all of them are either white or russet colored. A few of his pigeons might be friendly with the local pigeons because more and more neighborhood pigeons seem to be sporting a bit of white or russet color among their predominantly greyish feathers.

(Anon, regarding some of those bits of white and russet in the "wild" pigeon population, I suspect that when the pigeon coop owner flies his birds, as sometimes occurs, a few of them periodically decide to go off on their own during exercise, perhaps having eyed what they feel is the perfect mate while peering between the slats of their coop out their in the feral pigeon population.

Part of a game that was played by competing flock owners prevalent in the days of many rooftop coops, was to fly their flocks at the same time, hoping to tempt some of their neighbors birds into their flock at which time they'd be "sold" back to the original owner in a form of ransom.)

Photo Donna Browne
And immature Cooper's Hawk peruses a flock of sparrows passing by.

Photo Donna Browne
A crafty male Kestrel, of the species who wreak terror at Anon's bird feeder, hides a vole under his body to obscure it from a trio of foraging Crows.

Photo by Donna Browne

2007-"Little Brother" of the Cathedral Nest of St. John the Divine, son of Tristan and Isolde, watches a jazz concert in Morningside Park. A Red-tailed Hawk commonly called a Brown-tail at this age for obvious reasons. Note the brown tail with its bars and white tip.

And here a nice view of the reverse sexual dimorphism of raptors. Note Big Sister, right, and Little Brother, left of the nest mentioned above, hanging out at the softball field.

WHAT ASSUMPTION OR ASSUMPTIONS ARE BEING MADE IN THIS NEWS STORY ABOUT A DISAPPEARING DOG?

The Gusler family recently dropped off their pet dog, May, at the Pet Lodge on Tuskawilla Road in Oviedo before they went on vacation.

The manager at the Pet Lodge said the dog was left in a fenced back yard for only a couple of minutes by a dog walker.

When the dog walker returned, May was gone.

The employees at the business said with high fences, no holes in the yard and no outside access, there is only one explanation -- one of the hawks in the area carried the dog off.

"I don't doubt it because we are in Florida," the dog's owner, Deanne Gusler, said. "But in my opinion, if they know there is a chance a hawk will swoop down and get my dog, they need to be down there watching her."

The owner of the Pet Lodge said he plans put mesh wire across the top of the back yard fences to protect the dogs from large birds.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.
(Sally of Kentucky and I have been investigating stories of hawks vs dogs, much more to come on that.)
Donna Browne

The Woodman's Feather Mystery and a Strange Duck

Photo Donna Browne
Remember back in early October, I discovered a great many feathers surrounding the Woodman Supermarket in Janesville, WI?

There were feathers in the gravel, under the bushes, and sticking to the grass in the lawn. At first I thought they were all pigeon feathers but on closer examination I realized there were a good many gull feathers there as well.

Looking around I didn't see a single member of either species. What was going on? Well...

Photo by Donna Browne
Upon leaving the store the other day, I looked up to see a kettle of birds circling above a small strip mall kitty corner from Woodman's.


Photo by Donna Browne
On closer examination they looked like gulls.



Photo by Donna Browne
I hit the brakes and abruptly took a right, almost hitting a couple pigeons that had flushed suddenly from the ground. (Glad to miss the pigeons. But sorry, I missed the shot. They hot winged it out of there.) Then I looked to see where they'd come from.


Photo Donna Browne
Just as a flock of sparrows came out of the bushes and repositioned themselves under a---WHAT? A bird feeder! Look up at the stores in the photo of the mall above. There is a Wild Birds Unlimited and they have a number of feeders in the small green space between the road and their parking lot. Now look in the upper right hand corner of this photograph. See the beige building with the orange roof trim? That is Woodman's, where all the feathers are laying everywhere.

Thinking back I've seen Red-tailed Hawk circling about an 1/8 of a mile from this point several months ago. And three years ago I watched a Cooper's flying at car roof level from small tree to small tree in the Woodman's parking lot.

Mystery solved. Obviously the bird feeder is the draw for the seed eaters, (plus there are the wind currents around the little mall creating a place for birds to kettle up) and that nice flat roof of Woodman's is the dining hall for any raptors who happen to be taking their dinner from the birds availing themselves of their dinner at the feeders.

I always feel much better when I've figured it out. Whatever "it" is at any given moment.

Photo by Pat Gonzalez

Pat Gonzalez has a new video camera and has also discovered another strange duck in the New York Botanic Garden.

Donna,

I was at the NYBG earlier today trying out my new toy. The mystery duck there seems to have attracted a friend. Here's some video I shot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuZvq36OP9A
I've attached a photo. Is this another farm duck?

Pat,

It looks like a hybridized individual to me. One that is at least partially a "farm duck".

D. B.