Rats!

Before they prettified the tennis center, I used to play and sometimes there would be a hawk waiting on top of the light. It would swoop down during a point and snatch up a rat which would be lurking along the edges of the court in the drainage ditches. It was disgusting and satisfying to watch it get devoured . I don't see rats there anymore but I do when I walk home from the courts and cut through the park.

I saw a dead rat today in the running lane near Battle Pass. Which is one more rat than I've ever seen in the park, dead or alive.

I just saw a red-tailed hawk in Prospect Park yesterday. Seems like they're doing ok. I think the park is having a red tailed hawk event coming up.

I haven't noticed more rats than usual in the Park, but I did find a dead one in the yard recently. Maybe they're getting stirred up by all the construction that has been going on in Brooklyn. :?

My friend was walking her terrier mutt in the park this morning when it dashed into some bushes and came out with a RAT. Apparently the dog kept shaking it and shaking it as she screamed. Finally it let the rat go with a broken neck. Ugghh

It's exactly how they're wired.

I wandered through the park yesterday, and I saw several rats scurrying around. Near the boathouse, rats were sifting through the leaves and fallen branches, as you would normally expect of squirrels.

Precious Williams wrote: [quote=WhyFi]I wandered through the park yesterday, and I saw several rats scurrying around. Near the boathouse, rats were sifting through the leaves and fallen branches, as you would normally expect of squirrels.

Reminder to self: stay away from the park. I can't stand rats - either in their animal or human form. :twisted:

Even if the rats really freaked me out (they didn't), the duckling at the boathouse made the trip worth it - it was a big duckling, but it didn't have flight feathers yet. It was very outgoing - I watched as a father and his (I'm guessing) 3-year-old daughter fed and played with it. It eventually settled down and just sat in front of them on the grass. I'm actually worried about it, though - it did approach several people (who knows if someone would actually hurt it), it didn't look like mom/dad was around, and I'm thinking that it's a little late in the season for it to not be able to fly...

Subject: This sounds familiar

Sounds like we're walking through the first chapter of Albert Camus' "The Plague" in which "Dr. Rieux, preoccupied with his ill wife's imminent departure to a sanatorium, discovers a dead rat."

Subject: Prospect Park - rats and Hawks

Hi - I'm the Press Director for Prospect Park, so I thought I'm jump in with some info:

Every year as the summer ends and there is less garbage around from picnics the rats become more active in searching for food – esp. as they start to store food for winter. We do place traps around the Park but to be truly effective, they should be placed near where the rats are hiding out. That requires trimming back shrubbery, which we do but again, with limited staff caring for 585 acres of parkland….

The best solution to reducing the rat population would of course be to leave less trash and especially food scraps around the Park. We know the trash cans in the Park are often full --- within the Park, garbage is collected by the Parks Department not the Sanitation Dept. Right now our maintenance and operations office is working with about 2/3 of normal staff (that’s not just a $ issue, but also finding people with the training to operate the mini garbage packer and hiring people who have experience tackling Park maintenance issues). So packing up garbage as best as possible – even taking it back out of the Park with you – would help. Anyone who is interested in volunteering to help clean up the Park should contact our volunteer office at (718) 965-8960 or visit http://www.prospectpark.org/help/main.cfm?target=volunteer

As to Hawks, Here's some observations from one of the educators at the Prospect Park Audubon Center:

At least 4 or 5 adult and young Red-tailed Hawks are still active in Prospect Park. Plus the occasional Red-shouldered Hawk (although they prefer frogs to rats) and Cooper's & Sharp-shinned Hawks (which eat almost exclusively songbirds). The only other major predator on rats would be owls such as the Great-horned Owl which spent a month or so last winter hanging around Lookout Hill.

To learn more about Hawks, come to Hawk Weekend at the Prospect Park Audubon Center at the Boathouse - Saturday and Sunday, September 23 & 24, from 12 – 5 p.m. each day

There will be live hawk encounters from 12 – 4 each day, as well as hawk inspired crafts and the screenings of a film about New York’s most famous hawk, Pale Male, at the Center’s Con Edison Discover Nature Theater. For more information on Prospect Park events, programs, membership and volunteering at the Park, call the Park Hotline at (718) 965-8999 or visit www.prospectpark.org

WhyFi wrote: [quote=Precious Williams]are you sure these are rats and not actually dogs? My dog was mistaken for a rat last week. Although its unlikely many rats weight 9lbs and wear a collar and leash.

This reminded me of a story that I'd seen a couple years back...

I worry that one day I'm going to mistake a Chihuahua for a football. Actually, maybe it's not worry, it's anticipation.

shishkab wrote: [quote=Precious Williams]My darling little dog is very small, only a little bigger than a rat. I'm worried about taking her to the park after hearing about the hawks. Is it likely that one of them might swoop down and try to eat her? I know this is a silly sounding question, but it's a genuine concern for me.

hey Precious...

Studies have shown that red-tailed hawks, like most raptors, like to go after specific types of prey. they tend to concentrate on food sources that are common to the area in which they live (i.e., rats, mice, etc.). so unless all the rats and mice suddenly disappear from Prospect Park, our hawks won't suddenly turn and attack a tasty looking teacup poodle or siamese kitty. raptors like consistency, not experimentation. if the hawks were starving to death, i'd worry for your little Yip Yap, but believe me -- there are plenty of rodents to go around!
Thanks

shishkab wrote: ohmigoodness, that puppy is very cute!

and hey! is that Carnivore i see sitting next to your little one?

Its a pic of her at less than 2 months old, before I even got her. That pic actually is what prompted me to get her She's not much bigger now, even though fully grown. But she is very feisty and I've started taking her jogging. She can totally keep up with me even though my legs have to be, what?, about a hundred times longer.

Carnivore wrote: My avatar is actually a picture of a llama doll, not a lamb. Mrs. C and I got it in Peru a few years ago.

llamas, llammykins... s'all good, pal!

HaHa -- thanks for the clarification

quijibo wrote: i've been noticing a shitload of rats lately
especially on the way out of the park towards GAP on the PPW side
brazen little bastids. i'll be like five feet away and the little vermin
won't even flinch. just keeps mawing on whatever garbage it's found
as it flips me the bird :shock:

i think we need more trash cans in the park
and like about 1000 hawks.
that'd be soooooo cool! O:)

didn't they employ a hawk and a handler to deal with the pigeon problem in bryant park? and didn't aforementioned hawk swoop down and attack someone?