Prospect Park owls fledged; Hawk parent nabs a pigeon

Great horned owl family in Prospect Park, Brooklynred-tailed hawk nabs a pigeon

The owlets in Prospect Park have learned to fly over the last week. I didn’t see them for several days (which could be my lack of skill or because they were hopping around on the ground.) Then Sunday I saw three of them napping on a branch in the same fenced area as their nest, but several trees away. I had some help: crows were mobbing them. The chicks huddled together and one parent tried to sleep on a branch a few feet away.

In unrelated Brooklyn raptor news, I saw a white flutter in the bushes, then the aftermath: a red-tailed hawk standing on a pigeon. All around robins and other passing birds sounded an alarm call. At first I thought the bird was a young one, but then saw it had a full red tail. It’s probably one of the adult parents in the park. I wanted to tell a group of kids that were getting an Urban Park Ranger talk about insects, but then thought they’d never want to hear about ants after seeing the hawk.