Is That a Turkey in My Tree?

On Thanksgiving morning, I was at home at the top of Manhattan watching the parade on television when the cawing behind my building drowned out the horns and drums and commentators.  I rushed to my window to see several crows (it sounded like fifty) verbally harassing some kind of large fowl.

Since it was Thanksgiving, I assumed it was a wild turkey.  (It kind of looks like a turkey, right?)

I quickly realized that it was, of course, not a turkey in my oak tree.  But what was it and why were the crows crowding it?

A red-tailed hawk!  I had seen a couple hunting nearby earlier that week.  I looked for the other one and found it perched in a tree farther south.

The unanswered question was why the crows had surrounded this one?  And then the hawk let the answer droop from its talons.

Prey.  A feral cat from the lot below?  A squirrel?  I think a white pigeon.

So the crows waited...

...and waited...

...but finally flew away.  I stayed a little longer with my camera for the hawk to further mangle its prey or to fly towards home, but the hawk was more patient than I was. 

TOMORROW:  A much more professional photographer captured some incredible shots of hawks (including babies) at a public school on the Lower East Side.

Comments

[Cayce]

Pigeon on Thanksgiving? A new tradition in the heights.

[Elizabeth Rouse]

WoW! I wish I WISH! I see a lot of turkeys in midtown, but none of them have feathers. Instead of crows I hear people on their phones, "Can you hear me?". Instead of pecking at prey, I get the passing umbrella poking me in the eye. Instead of trees, I have light poles. Count your blessings commuter boy!

[Les]

Goodness, what is that? If thats a NYC pigeon, I am completely scared!

[Jennifer]

That's interesting. Be glad you don't see deer crossing the street at night, or snakes while you're walking along a path, or alligators in the river!

[Robert]

Deer I've seen, snakes I can deal with, but alligators? No, thank you, my Georgian friend.