Nature Done Wright

Incorporating the Celery Farm and Screech Owl Companion blogs

July 17, 2018

Can You Help I.D, Hackensack Birds?

A Hackensack resident writes:

I live in a high-rise twin apartment building on Prospect Avenue between Beech Street & American Legion Drive.

The air space in between (see red arrow in photo above) is a wonderful wind canyon for birds to cavort in, and they seem to enjoy the altitude equivalent to the upper floors.

I constantly see them flying horizontally very close to my windows on the 16th floor, before they zoom off in another direction & change altitudes. And this 'Canyon' does not exist anywhere else behind Prospect Ave.

I'm not a birder, but I can discern three separate types of birds that participate in this daily aerofest.

The first are the pigeons who, when they aren't on the wing like to squat on our balconies & defecate.

The second are the largest of the players…with hawk-like broad wings. These guys are very fast.

And the third group are the smallest and slowest in comparison with the other two groups.

The 3 tribes often play together, chasing one another in large formations & small all thru the Canyon, & in all weather conditions.

I'm assuming they live on the roof of one our twin buildings, because I never see them on the rooftops of the buildings across Overlook Ave from my windows. Rooftop access is restricted.

They move too fast for me to get non-blurry photos. But I would like to know their names & any other facts that I could dazzle our guests with.

Might you have birder contacts in this area who could investigate?

Overlook has street parking on both sides, & when school is not in session, the Hackensack High School vast parking lots are 1 block east of Overlook, directly behind the 3 high rises that front onto Overlook.

I hope I have piqued your readers' interest and can get some feedback from you.

(email me at celeryfarm@gamil.com for further details.)