The Week in Pictures for Nov. 1

See the slide show

Here is a slide show of photographs from the past week in New York City and the region. Subjects include the anniversary of Hurricane Sandy, a century-old land dispute and a Halloween parade.

This weekend on “The New York Times Close Up,” an inside look at the most compelling articles in the Sunday newspaper, Sam Roberts will speak with The Times’s Michael Moss, Michael Powell and Michael Barbaro. Also, Councilwoman Gale A. Brewer and Jeff Greenfield, an author. Tune in at 10 p.m. Saturday or 10 a.m. Sunday on NY1 News to watch.

A sampling from the City Room blog is featured in the main print news section of The Times. You may also read current New York headlines, like New York Metro | The New York Times on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Hawks’ Mystical Marathon

Johann Schumacher

For those in tune with the annual cadence of the seasons, migration is nothing less than mystical. What superficially seems random can shimmer with the kaleidoscopic diversity of evolution when more thoroughly examined.

There are many kinds of migration, but one of the most spectacular is the fall passage of hawks, which begins locally from the end of August through December.

Though the 2013 hawk migration has been meager so far, it is still in progress, and at its best it is simply spectacular.

About 14 species of hawks can be found with varying regularity in New York City and vicinity. The need to migrate sweeps up the tiny with the great, from the beautifully colored American kestrel, with its two-foot wingspan, to the majestic adult bald eagle, whose wingspan can be seven feet. Some of these species pass through on their way to southern states or other continents. Others, like rough-legged hawks, have summered in the far North and will arrive at their winter destination when they reach New York City.

Generally, larger migrants such as eagles pass through the New York City area closer to winter than do the smaller kestrels and sharp-shinned hawks. Recently, at one hawk-watch site where I spent about an hour, a dozen sharp-shinned hawks blew past â€" wind-assisted â€" on short, round-tipped wings, along with several merlins (kestrel relatives) flying as straight as arrows. To the north, an Osprey did its best imitation of a gull, soaring slowly over the Rockaway Inlet.

Though hawks can be observed in the skies above any of the five boroughs, there are several New York City locations that rival the best national observatories in sheer numbers of birds, and surrounding beauty.

The Rockaway Peninsula juts into the Atlantic Ocean from Queens, forming a narrow spit. Migrating birds concentrate here, feeding in the marshes and uplands of Jamaica Bay while preparing for an open-water crossing to New Jersey. Though still closed after Hurricane Sandy, Fort Tilden’s Battery Harris East is a historic gun emplacement and, as the highest point on the peninsula, provides a commanding view of migrating hawks with the city as a backdrop.

The eastern half of Fort Tilden, which remains open to the public, offers an excellent opportunity for hawk watching, as does nearby Jacob Riis Park.

In Brooklyn, Coney Island and Marine Park are good bets for spotting migrants, as are South Beach, Crook’s Point and the Conference House on Staten Island.

Pelham Bay Park, in the Bronx, is also a hawk magnet, especially later in the season.

Though migration is enigmatic, there is nothing mysterious about predicting a good migration day. Birds have figured out that catching a tail wind can greatly quicken their travels, requiring a fraction of the energy necessary to head into the wind or to fly unaided. So in the fall, pay attention to local weather forecasts that identify a northwest wind (that is, emanating from north and west of the city), pick up your binoculars and a field guide, and head to a park for a view of this annual spectacle.

Big Ticket | Treetop Park Views for $16 Million

Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times 18 Gramercy Park

Another of the floor-through luxury residences at 18 Gramercy Park with direct treetop views, along with dibs on a special key permitting access to that private and historic park, sold for $16 million and was the most expensive sale of the week, according to city records. The 4,207-square-foot residence, No. 7, has four bedrooms, five and a half baths, and a corner living room that commands 40 feet of park frontage; the monthly carrying charges are $11,225.31.

The gracious 16-unit condominium was recast from the 1927 Evangeline Residence, a Salvation Army-sponsored rooming house for women on the corner of Irving Place, by Zeckendorf Development, Global Holdings and Robert A. M. Stern Architects, the team responsible for 15 Central Park West.

The apartments all have a prewar ambience, with high ceilings, white oak floors and spacious room dimensions. But the amenities are distinctly modern: the powder room is black onyx, while the master suite has his-and-hers baths, one of Gris Souris marble and the other with a Calacatta Caldia slab marble steam shower and a Kohler soaking tub.

The buyer, cloaked by a limited-liability company, Victoria Harbour, was represented by Paula Schafer of Rutenberg Realty; Zeckendorf Marketing handled the sale for the sponsors.

The next-highest sale was at 53 West 88th Street, a six-story townhouse gut-renovated â€" with the addition of a penthouse and the installation of top-to-bottom glass walls at the back â€" by the designers Steven Harris and Clodagh in 2011. It sold for its most recent asking price, $14.391 million. The annual taxes are $29,302.

Mike Sieger of Fenwick Keats Real Estate was the broker for the sellers, David Luttway and Dana Lowey-Luttway; the buyer was the Marti Ann Meyerson EDS Trust.

Big Ticket includes closed sales from the previous week, ending Wednesday.

Lou Reed and the Neighbors

Dear Diary:

Curiously, Lou Reed had an apartment in the building where my ex-husband, Howard, and I lived in the early ’90s, on West End Avenue towering over Zabar’s. It was a newish, charmless cookie-cutter high rise.

One time Lou, Howard and I rode down 22 floors in the fully mirrored small elevator together. I was oblivious of Lou but aware of Howard’s reflection trying to telegraph very important news with his eyes. The three of us walked around the block, and it wasn’t until Broadway that Lou was far enough away for Howard to say, “Lou Reed.” Fool, I am!

Read all recent entries and our updated submissions guidelines. Reach us via email diary@nytimes.com or follow @NYTMetro on Twitter using the hashtag #MetDiary.

New York Leads Country in Foreign-Born Voters, Analysis Says

Even without legislation to let noncitizens vote in local elections, fully three in 10 New Yorkers who go to the polls on Tuesday are likely to have been born abroad.

That projection is considered a modern high for the city, given the influx of foreigners beginning in the 1990s and the time that has elapsed in which they could become eligible as naturalized citizens to cast their ballots in municipal elections.

An analysis by John H. Mollenkopf, director of the Center for Urban Research at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, found that New York has more foreign-born voters than any other big city, both in raw numbers and as a share of the total electorate.

In the 2012 presidential election, New York City had more than twice as many immigrant voters (about 892,000) as Los Angeles (311,000) with Chicago (84,000) and Miami (55,000) trailing. Its 30 percent was the highest share, according to the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey.

The foreign-born voters, Professor Mollenkopf said, “are quite diverse, just like the native born electorate, and do not vote as a bloc.”

“The Dominicans resemble the Puerto Ricans, the West Indians the African-Americans, etc.” he said. “They may be a touch more conservative than their native-born minority counterparts, but with some exceptions â€" the Russians â€" they are no fans of the Republicans.”

At least six of the 51 current members of the City Council were born abroad. That number may increase after Tuesday’s vote.

The last New York mayor born outside the United States was Abraham D. Beame, in 1973. Since the mid-19th century, so were William O’Dwyer and Vincent R. Impellitteri.

New York Today: Marathon Revival

Aaron Houston for The New York Times Last time around: marathon runners in 2011.

Chances are you remember last year’s New York City Marathon.

The one that didn’t happen.

Hurricane Sandy had just killed scores of people and damaged huge swaths of coastline.

Responding to protests, the mayor cancelled the marathon at the last minute, leaving swarms of angry runners.

The 2013 marathon takes place on Sunday.

Will last year’s cancellation cast a shadow?

Jeré Longman, a sports reporter for The New York Times, told us that it clearly hurt the marathon’s reputation â€" at the time.

“I interviewed runners who had flown in from Italy who were incensed,” he said.

But this year, the number of runners has held steady at more than 47,000, heartening organizers.

The number of charity runners, though, is down sharply. Of 8,000 charity spots offered, 3,000 remain open.

(Charities raise money from the public  through the runners.)

“It’s too soon to tell the long-term effects on the image,” Mr. Longman said. “But it’s still a huge marathon. It’s still New York.”

Here’s what else you need to know for Friday and the weekend.

WEATHER

No parades, but rain. And wind. Lots of it - gusts up to 50 miles an hour.

Steamy, too, with a high of 72.

Rain and wind taper by afternoon, making way for a less tropical weekend.

(For the record books: October was the third driest on record.)

And don’t forget to turn your clocks back Sunday morning. The season of darkness is upon us.

COMMUTE

Subways: Click for latest status.

Rails: Click for L.I.R.R., Metro-North or New Jersey Transit status.

Roads: Click for traffic map or radio report on the 1s.

Alternate-side parking is suspended for All Saints’ Day.

COMING UP TODAY

- Joseph J. Lhota campaigns in Staten Island with his old boss Rudy Giuliani, stops by a Shabbat service in Riverdale and finishes at a Hispanics for Lhota event in Midtown.

- Bill de Blasio speaks at get-out-the-vote rallies in Downtown Brooklyn and Upper Manhattan.

- Bryant Park’s Winter Village opens: an ice rink and more than 100 boutique booths.

- Brooklyn Night Bazaar opens in Greenpoint for three months of music, food and art on weekend evenings. [Free]

- A Mexican Day of the Dead celebration at St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery continues through Sunday. [Free]

- The 24-day, citywide performance-art biennial Performa 13 gets under way.

- For more events, see The New York Times Arts & Entertainment guide.

AND FINALLY…

Don your khakis, grab your camera, and get ready to go on a safari.

In Brooklyn.

For parrots.

Flocks of them have settled throughout the borough, and Steve Baldwin, proprietor of BrooklynParrots.com, knows where they roost.

On the first Saturday of every month, he leads a free tour of one of the largest colonies, in Midwood.

Click here to register.

Bring binoculars, birdseed and water - and wear anything you want, except bright orange.

“Wild Quaker parrots freak out when they see that color,” Mr. Baldwin says.

Stacy Cowley, Joseph Burgess and Andy Newman contributed reporting.

New York Today is a morning roundup that stays live from 6 a.m. till about noon.

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