Hawk Watch at Belvedere Castle with Gabriel Willow, 11/8/2024

Registrar: Debbie Mullins
Participants: 38
Weather: 68° F, clear, westerly winds at 7 mph
Bird Species: 23

A large group gathered on the steps of Belvedere Castle in Central Park overlooking the Great Lawn to look for late migrating raptors. The ongoing drought has increased the risk of forest fires; one burning in the New Jersey Palisades generated smoke that may have caused migrants to alter their flight paths. While five raptor species were seen, no eagles, our target species, were spotted during the watch. At least five Red-tailed Hawks and three Peregrine Falcons were seen, but we could not rule out the possibility that these were local birds that nested in Manhattan this year. The most exciting sighting of the day was a Merlin repeatedly attacking a Cooper’s Hawk over Turtle Pond.

Species List

Birds
Wood Duck
Northern Shoveler
Mallard
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)
American Herring Gull
Great Blue Heron
Cooper’s Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Northern Flicker
American Kestrel
Merlin
Peregrine Falcon
Blue Jay
Golden-crowned Kinglet
European Starling
Brown Thrasher
American Robin
Cedar Waxwing
American Goldfinch
Dark-eyed Junco
Eastern Towhee
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle

Odonata

Autumn Meadow Hawk