A few weeks ago one of the students in my department, Stephanie Lieffrig, had this Red-Tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) land on her AC unit in the Belmont neighborhood of the Bronx, New York. Hawks, along with Peregrine Falcons (Falco peregrinus) are quite common in New York City and AC units are a rather common perch for urban Red-Tailed Hawks. New York University even has a nest cam set up to track the urban hawks of Washington Square Park.
Do you have animals perching on your fire escape or AC unit? What about a rare plant or animal that you were surprised to find in a city? If so, let Lindsay know or Tweet at us.
Thank you to Jacob Saucier and Jeffrey Ward for helping with identification and urban bird knowledge for this post.
I am an NSF Postdoctoral Researcher at Washington University in St Louis and UC Berkeley where I am working on the ecology and evolution of urban Eastern Gray Squirrels. You can find out more about me on my personal site www.elizabethcarlen.com
Latest posts by Elizabeth Carlen (see all)
Leave a Reply