Patricia Gonzalez is an NYBG Visitor Services Attendant and avid wildlife photographer.
Rose the Red-tailed Hawk
One of my favorite things about working at The New York Botanical Garden is all the opportunities to see wild Red-tailed Hawks in action. Since my first close-up encounter with a hawk by the white pines back in February of 2009, I’ve been documenting them, both with my camera and in my notebook.
I’ve had the pleasure of photographing and filming these winged hunters as they soar overhead, hide quietly in the trees, and swoop down on unsuspecting prey. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve encountered one of them as soon as I enter the Garden grounds, or at the end of my day right before I exit. During my early treks, I learned that the adults nested nearby at Fordham University. The Botanical Garden, Fordham Campus, and the Bronx Zoo are all parts of their overall hunting ground.
But for sheer variety, the Garden is the equivalent of a raptor smorgasbord. Squirrels, chipmunks, white-footed mice, short-tailed shrews, garter snakes, and cotton-tailed rabbits are but a few of the inhabitants that call the Garden their home. They provide the hawks with sustenance all year round.
Patricia Gonzalez is an NYBG Visitor Services Attendant and avid wildlife photographer.
This is Hooter, the Great-horned Owl, one of several non-releasable birds of prey that reside at the Quogue Wildlife Refuge, which is a non-profit nature reserve in Quogue, NY. Hooter had a lot to say last Sunday at the Garden’s Live Birds of Prey event. So much, in fact, that he was given his own microphone! See him in action here.
Hooter the Great-horned Owl during a demonstration at NYBG – Photo by Patricia Gonzalez
Patricia Gonzalez is an NYBG Visitor Services Attendant and avid wildlife photographer.
Not only does The New York Botanical Garden serve as a home for lots of wildlife, but this past Sunday, I got to get up close and personal with live birds of prey (as part of the Garden’s Fall Forest Weekend Programming) from the Volunteers for Wildlife Hospital and Education Center. They are non-profit wildlife hospital and education center based in Locust Valley. I got to meet a Screech Owl, Kestrel, Great-horned Owl, and Red-tailed Hawk.
See a slideshow of photos and a brief video from the event below, and don’t miss our second Fall Forest Weekend—complete with live birds of prey in attendance—this Saturday and Sunday, November 14 and 15!
