Most of my life was spent in Queens, NY. Growing up in the city the most exotic bird I ever saw on the street was a sparrow, maybe a white pigeon. Scratch that, a white dove on a new year’s morning approximately 15 years ago. Nowadays, in Florida, is see Eagles, Cranes, Ibis, Egrets, Turkey Buzzards, etc, regularly.

This past Thanksgiving I went back home to Queens and one morning as we left my friend’s house in Astoria, we noticed a group of people gathered outside looking up to the sky as I pulled out of the driveway. I thought out loud, “we have a jumper”, jokingly, of course. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Did this Red Tail beauty follow us up from Florida? Not quite. I put the rental in park, got out, and grabbed my camera. Armed with a 7D and a 24-105L I began to make some pictures.  This is just one of many keepers.

Turns out that hawks in the city are a common sight now. They are everywhere.

This footage was just taken of a couple that live on 5th Ave:

My dad’s take on the situation was that we finally had something in place to keep the flying rats (pigeons) in check. I’m not sure that’s right but this is exactly what this hawk was doing. At first I thought she had a piece of a garbage in her talons but upon zooming in on my shot, it turns out that she was on the hunt and had a pigeon in her possession and was more than willing to show off her kill. She did not budge except to look at her audience from time to time. We all, ultimately, went on our way and left her to her feast.

I do not have clear answer as to why these hawks have propagated throughout the city but I am thinking that it has to do with their original food supply running scarce, possibly up north.  Either way, I do look forward to seeing them again when I return.

Their popularity have been featured on the news and in blogs like this one called Urban Hawks which tracks hawks all over the city. Check it out, they feature really great footage (like the one I linked to above) and incredible photographs of these majestic feathered beings.

Til next time.