Purple Monster? No! Purple Martins!

Usually, on this site, PM stands for Purple Monster, our Christmas heroine. But today, PM stands for purple martins (Progne subis), those broad-chested swallows that do aerial acrobatics to catch insects. There is only one sanctuary nesting colony in New York City where you can see purple martins: Lemon Creek Park on Staten Island. The purple martins are very welcome there, with high-rise apartments and gourd single-family dwellings. I visited on June 20, traveling on the Staten Island Ferry and the Staten Island Railroad. 

Purple martin, Lemon Creek Park, Staten Island, June 20

The Filming the Feathers video shows the purple martins at their nests and on a phone line. You'll notice some wooden decoy purple martins in the video and in a photo below. Purple martins love to be in flocks, and the wooden birds welcome visiting swallows to the neighborhood. On the day I visited, I also saw starlings and house sparrows taking up residence in the condominiums.

The first photo below shows one of the wooden decoys. The rest are resident purple martins. All photos were taken June 20.

Chasing Hawk Babies!

I've been chasing the red-tailed hawk babies at three spots in Manhattan so far this year: Central Park (Pale Male and Octavia have three kids this year), Grant's Tomb (there are three babies from that nest), and Tompkins Square Park (Dora and Christo have one baby, and are now fostering a second fledgling who was rescued in Brooklyn). In my first video of the offspring of the three nests, you get a chance to compare the kids. You'll note that the Tompkins Square kid is a bit younger (you'll get to see video of the new kid later).

An offspring of Pale Male and Octavia in a tree next to Central Park on Fifth Avenue, June 9.

A Grant's Tomb baby shows off the wings, June 11.

The Tompkins Square Park kid, offspring of Dora and Christo, branching out, June 11.

This first set of photos is of the Central Park babies.

These photos are of the Grant's Tomb baby, plus Mom, when she brought in food for her kids.

The Tompkins Square Park youngster, offspring of Christo and Dora.

Oh, You Ospreys!

May and June are great times to see ospreys, those wonderful seaside raptors that love to dive into water to catch fish and nest high in trees or on platforms. I have seen ospreys at Marine Park, Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge and Broad Channel Park. They nest in May, and by June have little ospreys sticking their heads out of the nest. There have been osprey flyovers at Central Park, but I've never seen one land there. They have a very distinctive flight, which you can see in the video below.

Female osprey near her nest, Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, June 7, 2017

The Filming the Feathers video was shot at a nest at Marine Park, two nests at Jamaica Bay and another nest at Broad Channel Park. Music is by Giuseppe Maria Cambini, Wind Quintets Nos. 1, 2 and 3, performed by Soni Ventorum Wind Quintet (obtained from MusOpen.org, a royalty-free music source). One of the nests at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge has two babies, which you'll see sticking their heads up and flapping their little wings.

The first osprey nest I saw was at Marine Park in July 2015. The rest of the photos are from May and June 2017, at all three sites.

Osprey, Marine Park, July 25, 2015

Osprey near her nest, Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, June 7, 2017