I visited Flushing Meadow Park and Flushing Bay this past Friday to see how things were progressing with the Unisphere RTH pair Bobby and Cathy, and visited Flushing Bay as well to see if Sid and Nancy may have moved back into the area. I started at Flushing Bay and made a few discoveries: 1)Waterfowl have begun to repopulate the Bay area, and the numbers should keep growing in the area into January. Common Goldeneyes, Brants, Mute Swans, Black Ducks, Redheads, Scaups, and Buffleheads have arrived in small numbers, and several more species should join them soon. I decided to hold off posting pictures of them until I get a better selection and can focus more on each species. 2) Sid and Nancy appear to have permanently vacated the area. 3) In the absence of Sid and Nancy two other RTH's have populated the area, possibly as a winter feeding ground. Both RTH's are juveniles and were rather skittish at the sight of approaching humans, leading me to believe they are not of NYC origin. I don't believe they are Bobby and Cathy's offspring, but I couldn't tell for sure if they are banded.
I did manage to see both Bobby and Cathy but didn't get any good pics of them as they were flying overhead rather quickly, probably protecting their territory from other Raptors.
I also spotted two Peregrine Falcons stalking Pigeons and Mallards near the Fountains of the Planets. It is very difficult to get decent pictures of them as they were dive-bombing for prey at ridiculously high speeds. I pretty much had to just watch in awe at how fast these amazing Raptors can move and turn with such precision. Neither managed to snag a meal, but they both came within inches of success before disappearing to the South.
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