A bird of prey watched over Riverside Park on Sunday. Photo by Scott S.
July 29, 2019 Weather: Sunny, with a high of 92 degrees.
Notices:
There’s a free comedy show with Daily Show stars Roy Wood Jr. and Ronny Chieng, and many other local events on our calendar.
News:
Riverside Park has a flooding problem that advocates say is endangering the train tunnel underneath. “In recent years, the park’s flooding and erosion has reached a critical point, park advocates said, because of failures in the park’s aging drainage system, which dates from the 1930s or earlier. When it rains, the stone staircase at 103rd Street turns into a waterfall. Lawns and paths are covered with mud. Unintended stream systems have developed, cutting furrows into the hillside and becoming feeders for impromptu ponds, including the largest one at 115th Street, where the pair of mallard ducks was coasting.”
People trying to navigate reduced 1 train service on the weekends now say they’re being double-charged when they use buses and trains to get to their destinations. “For instance, those riding downtown must exit the station at 137th Street and get on a free shuttle bus which drops them off at the 96th Street station where they go back underground. The problem is …’Now we gotta pay here again,’ one person said.”
Famous scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson will remain as director of the Hayden Planeterium following a sexual misconduct investigation by the Museum of Natural History. “‘Accusations can damage a reputation and a marriage. Sometimes irreversibly,’ he wrote in a Facebook post in December that included his side of the story regarding the allegations.”
Upscale condo renovations are returning some UWS buildings to their gilded age stature — with a modern twist. “The conversion from workaday rentals has presented challenges, according to Corcoran broker Daniel Blatman, who is repping a four-bedroom apartment there on the market for $6.97 million, such as how to install central air without taking away from the building’s coveted high ceilings. Blatman’s colleague, Deanna Kory, notes that buyers are attracted to its ‘prewar elements,’ but don’t have to compromise on ‘completely modern finishes.'”
Among the hot new real estate amenities — exercise services right in the building. “Mirror and other fitness equipment with on-demand instruction may primarily be used in private homes, but the devices have been migrating to the gyms of luxury residential buildings.”
Live like an opera star. “Grammy-winning opera star Renee Fleming has put her sprawling four-bedroom Upper West Side penthouse on the market; the 3,000-square-foot co-op at 200 West 86th Street, asking $6.895 million, is a diva-worthy pad, the result of combining two large units.”
The Cathedral School at St. John the Divine has completed an expansion. “The addition includes a basement for mechanical equipment and storage space, a terrace with a new 2,700-square-foot library, and media center and a new ground floor featuring a new admissions suite, along with dining, meeting and assembly space.”
Beautiful bird! Great picture.
I’m not an expert, but I thought hawks to be more brown in color? This gorgeous beauty looks more like a peregrine. Maybe it’s the lighting distorting the color brown to a dark gray/black.
I’m curious, can anyone verify?
Without question, it’s a Red-tailed Hawk. The belly band is a key feature. Our Red-tails here in the East are lighter than some of the ones out west. The shape is of a Buteo and not a Falcon or Osprey. This is most likely a young bird because of the creamy chest and I can’t see any red on the tail. Peregrine Falcons have helmet-like dark side burns and finer and more extensive barring on their bellies. Ospreys are almost all white in front and there is more white on the face above the eyestripe. Red-tailed Hawks are seen regularly in Riverside Park. They sometimes nest there. I’m sure other birders could add more, but I have no question about its being a Red-tail.
It’s a juvenile Red-Tailed hawk. Hatched in the spring. Red tails don’t get their signature Red tails and heads until their 2nd year.
The youngsters are darker than adults.
The question is whether this one was from a local nest or is visiting from out-of-town on the way to college.
Good point, we’ll change it to “bird of prey”!
that bird looks very much like an Osprey, a fisher i have never see around here. elsewhere yes, but not here.
I don’t think it’s an Osprey. Osprey have sharper, hooked beaks and yellow eyes. It may be a juvenile Red-Tailed Hawk, but I’m not sure.
Could be an osprey or a retail tail. I can’t really tell.
Re: “The problem is …’Now we gotta pay here again,’ one person said.'”
Hey, you guys are lucky the MTA doesn’t make you PAY for the “free shuttle” also!
And, since the “jeenusses” at the MTA never thought this through, how’s about you folks-on-the-bus try a little Urban Guerilla Action:
1)buddying-up into teams of two or three and agree that each day “Rider A” double- or triple-swipes, letting “Rider B” (and “Rider C”) ride free;
2) next day Rider B or C reciprocates, like a round-robin.
Memo to MTA: you’re STILL getting all fares paid so it’s NOT a criminal activity,….. and certainly NOT AS CRIMINAL as your incredible INCOMPETENCE and INDIFFERENCE to your customers.
Where in the park was this beautiful bird?
I love reading about happenings on the UWS. I lived in Nebraska, Missouri and Kansas for over 40 years and now reside in Worcester, MA, but have always had West 99th Street in my heart. My parents owned a candy store between 98th and 99th on Broadway in the 60s and 70s. Sadly 2609 Broadway doesn’t even exist anymore. Now it’s like it was never there.
DIFFERENCES IN HAWKS AND FALCONS
Hawks and falcons are raptors, or birds of prey. They are both skilled hunters, but go about their hunting activity in different ways. Their differences in size, color patterns and diets also set the two apart. Depending on the species, color variations can help determine whether you’re seeing a hawk or falcon. Red-tailed hawks, for example, have white chests and brown spots on their heads, wings, backs and abdomens. Only adults have the namesake red tails; juveniles have brown, striped tails. Peregrine falcons have white chests like hawks, but their coloring is generally gray and white, and includes horizontal stripes on their abdomens and legs. Falcons have gray “sideburns” called malar stripes, while red-tailed hawks don’t.
Thank you for listing the differences in appearances. The “sideburns” seem clear in this photo. Any way, my own eyes just opened to a wider range of possibilities.
Congratulations to the photographer for the beautiful pic, and WSR posting.
I only wish that we can have Peregrine Falcons among us here in the city and they take to the urban cities very comfortably. We have enough pigeons/squirrels/rats for them… The bird lovers may not like them because they do pray on songbirds on occasion. But they are so majestic looking, confident…
There’s a number of Peregrine Falcons in Chicago.
Who said there weren’t?
https://wingspanoptics.com/blogs/field-journal/why-falcons-are-moving-to-new-york-city
https://catapult.co/stories/what-new-york-citys-most-famous-peregrine-falcons-taught-me-about-parenting-lenora-todaro