Dr. Robert “Birding Bob” DeCandido leads birding tours around New York City. Usually he takes people to see owls in Central Park, which he helped reintroduce. This week he lead a tour of the Empire State Building at night to see birds migrating by–and the peregrine falcons who want to eat them. Here’s his report to his followers this week. Not from this trip, but here’s a picture of a peregrine seen from the Empire State Building.Photo here courtesy of Mike ZienowiczHello All,

Sunday Evening, 30 August (Night Migration at the Empire State Building) – as I stood outside the Empire State Building (ESB) at 6:25pm, I cursed the weatherman, the wind direction and life in general. The forecast was for westerly winds by 7pm or so, but the few scattered clouds above us sure looked like they were coming up from the southwest. Such winds would insure we would see no migrants. As the hopeful gathered, I offered the option of just canning the trip up to the top – we could use the tickets any time in the next two years. However, there were no takers – people had psyched themselves into going up there, and many had not made a trip in several years (decades). One of us (a native New Yorker) had never been up there yet…

So up we went – along the way, I met Security Guards who remembered me (“hey birdman“) and we exchanged smiles and hugs – they telling me excitedly

Keep reading Birders Watch Peregrine Falcon at Empire State Building Watching Migrants