On the Northeast light post of the soccer field north of Icahn Stadium is the 2013 Randalls Island Red-tailed Hawk nest. The female of the nest was sitting on the eggs. She sat low on the nest and when she settled in after getting in did the back and forth wiggle a brooding mother does.
So, I don't thing we've had a hatch yet out on Randalls Island.
The pair that has been trying to build a safely located nest on Central Park West has found a new nest location on top of an air conditioner on between 87th and 88th Street.
A second clutch is unusual for Red-tailed Hawks, although we have seen it in the city before. It will be interesting to see if this pair attempts one this year.
Terence Cardinal Cooke Health Care Center is at 106th and Fifth Avenue. This winter I've frequently seen a hawk on top of the building. I didn't think much of it, since we usually have a few wintering hawks in the north part of the park.
Today, I was surprised to see not one but two hawks on the building. Before I could get my camera out, the male flew off, circled the hill with the compost heap, and returned to the building and copulated with the female.
My first thought was these could be the Central Park West hawks? But both seem lighter both in eye color and in chest banding. The couple looks young. Anyone seen nest building on upper Fifth Avenue?
On the day that the Washington Square Hawks had their first egg hatch, the Central Park West hawks gave up on their 322 Central Park West nest.
Tonight, I first found one of the hawks on the back of 350 CPW, on a ledge on 94th Street. The hawk left the perch and when I got back to CPW, the two hawks were copulating on a building on 93rd Street. Then the female went off to a tree in the park.
We'll see what happens. The hawks look to be building a new nest on a different location on 350 CPW.
After receiving reports that the Central Park West had been taken down, I went to the park today to look for the hawks. You can imagine my surprise when I found a hawks sitting on a slightly smaller nest than I had seen on the weekend. (It's not clear if the female has laid eggs just yet, or will be in the next few days.)
When I got home, folks on the WSP chat room directed me to the Pale Male Irregulars website. It had news of destruction of the nest by the construction company working on the façade. There was also a story in the New York Post.
Lets hope the hawks can rebuild the nest in time to make a good go of it this year.
Update: 4/11/13. I was sent a photograph today that showed the female sitting on the ledge with one egg having rolled away from her. Without a proper nest bowl, she may have had to choose to incubate only one egg.
The pair on Central Park West continues to copulate and doesn't seem quite ready to settle down to nesting just yet. Reports are that they are not bothered by the construction crews on the building where they have built there nest so this is great news. On Sunday, I saw them copulate on the south tower of the Eldorado and watched the male fly in the high winds.
The Central Park pair on the west side in the 90s looks to have completed their nest. I found them both on Central Park West at 93rd, eating a pigeon and then copulating. Let's hope they do well and aren't disturbed by the construction on the nest building.
Today was a nice day in Central Park. I had the two Red-tailed hawks trying to establish a nest on CPW, (now working on a nest on 322 CPW.) Then a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk on the American Museum of Natural History followed by Sharp-shinned Hawk in the Evodia Field.
My next stop was Fifth Avenue, where Octavia is now brooding. Pale Male was tending to the nest (rearranging twigs as is his habit) and she returned to the nest.
A quick walk down to Central Park South uncovered one Red-tailed hawk there. Seven hawks, not too bad for a brief afternoon visit to the park.
Two Red-tails appeared over the Reservoir this afternoon, soared together and then came back down to perch about 100 yards apart near the Tennis Courts in Central Park. This is the pair that was bringing twigs to 350 Central Park West earlier in the week.
They stayed in the same trees for about twenty minutes, and didn't like they were going to be moving soon, so I moved on. Let's hope they stay in the park this spring.
I got an email yesterday from Emily, a resident of 350 Central Park West, that a pair of hawks were building a nest on the 15th Floor of her building.
I got to see the pair this evening. The hawks are building on an air conditioner, on the right most faux balcony. I watched them copulating on the north tower of The Eldorado and bringing twigs to 350 Central Park West. (94 and 95th Street are the cross streets.) The nest building is in the very early stages, so there is still a good chance the hawks could decide to nest elsewhere.
But if the hawks do nest on Central Park West, we might have a bumper copy of young hawks in the park this summer. Between this new nest, the new nest on the Plaza Hotel, Pale Male's nest on 5th Avenue, and the St. John the Divine nest, whose kids always end up in the north end of Central Park, we could have lots of fledglings in the park.
Of course a lot could happen between now and summer, but a hawk watcher can always dream!
A first-year Red-tailed Hawk was eating a squirrel in the rain on Saturday in the Locust Grove of Central Park. We've got lots of young hawks in the park this winter.
You always hear that owls and hawks don't interact much, but a young Red-tailed Hawk didn't get the message. It's been harassing the Barred Owl that's in Central Park for the past few weeks.
Tonight the Barred Owl must have had enough. The Red-tailed Hawk tried to roost in a tree the Barred Owl used to use during the day, so the Barred Owl flew out early and chased the Red-tail away.
I was taking pictures of the Flatiron Building in New York City, when I saw a hawk fly in and land on what used to be the northern Toy Center building, which is undergoing renovation. It landed and returned south. It was dark, so I couldn't get a good enough I.D. to figure out if it was one of the Washington Square hawks, the hawk that had been seen hanging around the park, or just a migrating hawk.
A young hawk has been hanging around Madison Square Park since early October. I've heard reports and been sent a few pictures, but today was the first time I saw the youngster in person.
(I only had a point and shoot camera with me, so the pictures aren't that great.) It's most likely a migrant from further north and not a hawk from Manhattan, but you never know!
I'm on vacation in San Francisco. My hotel is on Nob Hill. In the mid-afternoon I saw some pigeons in flight out my window and wondered if there was a hawk nearby. It turns out there were two Red-tailed Hawks, an adult and an immature bird.
There was a young Red-tailed Hawk flying between 100th and 111th Street along Fifth Avenue this afternoon. It was impossible to tell if it was a migrant or a hawk that was born on a nearby nest this spring.
The annual Central Park Christmas Bird Count was on Sunday. It's a great event that brings together the Urban Park Rangers, the Parks Department, Audubon NYC and lots of amateur birders to take a census of the birds wintering in the park.
After a series of bad weather counts with snow, rain or bitterly cold temperatures, this count had enjoyable, if chilly weather.
The day before, I looked for the two unusual birds that have been around, the Varied Thrush and a young Red-Headed Woodpecker (which at this age, has yet to get a red head.) Along the way I had nice looks at a Cooper's hawk.
On Sunday, I joined the Northeast team. Highlights for me were a Carolina Wren and young Red-tailed Hawk at Mount Sinai Hospital. After our counting was done, our team saw a Merlin in the Northwest team's area, I saw a young Red-tail being harrased by Pale Male at 63rd and Fifth, and at dusk I watched the park's surviving Eastern Screech-Owl's fly out.
The count had 62 species of birds, including birds from the count week. There are lots of birds in Central Park, even in the winter! The count had 11 Red-tailed Hawks, 9 Cooper's Hawks, 2 Merlins, 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk, 1 Peregrine Falcon, and 1 Eastern Screech-Owl.
I visited the Rockefeller Preserve on Saturday and got to see a fun American Kestrel vs. Red-tailed Hawk show. It was all about territory protection. The Kestrel was protecting its family's territory. The family seemed to be two adults and two juveniles.
An immature hawk was eating dinner in the Wildflower Meadow (northern Central Park), early Tuesday evening.
The annual Christmas Bird Count was held in Central Park. The snow storm had tapered off just in time for a nice morning in the park.
Counting in fresh snow was good exercise, although it kept the count numbers down. I birded the Northwest. Highlights included a female Wood Duck and a Great Blue Heron (most likely the same bird Jack Meyer saw earlier in the week on the Lake). Our group had two raptor species, a Cooper's Hawk and a pair of Red-tailed Hawks.
An unusual species for the count was a Turkey Vulture, with multiple fly overs the park. Speculation was that heavy snow forced the vultures south. The Riverside Park count even had a Bald Eagle. So the weather was a mixed blessing.
I walked up from the mid-70s to the North Woods to look for Screech-Owls and came along some interesting diversions along the way. On a building at 89th Street and Central Park West was a Red-tailed Hawk. This section of the park, west of the Reservoir, usually has a Red-tailed guest during the winter. To my surprise there were two Red-tailed Hawks, something I'm not used to seeing here.
Then while waiting for it to get dark, a Cooper's Hawk dove into the Loch. It caught a squirrel and ate it. It's the first time I've seen a Cooper's Hawk with a squirrel.
Lastly, I was able to see and hear both of the North Woods resident Eastern Screech-Owls. They've switched roosts, so we felt lucky to find them.
On the way out of the park, I saw that the Lasker Pool is now the Lasker Rink! Another sign of the changing seasons.
I went out in a break in the rain on Saturday to see if their was any sign of the Great-Horned Owl that had been spotted on two separate days in Central Park over the last week. I didn't find the owl, but did find this 1st year Red-tailed Hawk. It was right next to a cove on the Lake called the Oven.
Pictures include the bird eating a squirrel. If that doesn't interest you skip this post.
From north to south, we have the following confirmed nesting sites in Manhattan this year: Inwood Hill Park, Highbridge Park (back to the old location, which should be safer than last year's location), Lower Riverside Park (also in a new and safer location), Fifth Avenue and 888 Seventh Avenue. I visited all of them this weekend. They all seem to be in good shape, with chicks expected within the next few weeks.
Some nests have changed from last year.
There is no sign of a nest below 14th Street, although there have been reports of hawks downtown all winter, including Tompkins Square Park, the World Trade Center construction site, the Court Houses around Center Street, Seward Park, Washington Square Park and the Greenway.
Last year's nest on Houston Street is not being used again this year. The male from last year's nest died of Fronce and while hawks have been seen on the Lower East Side all winter, no signs of a new nest has been found.
The St. John the Divine's pair have both been seen recently but further uptown. Construction continues on the church and they may have moved but no one has found a new nest location. This one is a real mystery.
The Shepard Hall, City College nest looks bigger according to reports, but nest looks unoccupied. The hawks may be nesting somewhere nearby.
Here are pictures of four nests from this weekend:
I spent the early afternoon looking at the Riverside Red-tailed Hawk pair on Saturday. There nest is just off the Hudson River near 8st Street and looks great. Last year they laid eggs around mid-March, so the female should start sitting on the nest soon.
Other nests in Manhattan are doing well. Inwood Hill Park, Highbridge Park, St. John the Divine and 5th Avenue nests are doing fine. The Highbridge nest is back to its old spot.
The Central Park South pair is still there but I don't have any details about their nest. The Houston female lost her mate last year, and may be nesting on the ConEd plant around 14th Street. The pair that was around the City College campus remains a mystery.
Sightings of hawks this winter around the north end of Riverside Park and around the Court House buildings on Center Street make these locations possibilities for new nests this year.
When leaving Riverside Park, check out the American Kestrels that have a scrape at 80th and Broadway. One of them is usually on the building south of Zabar's or on the church at 79th and Broadway.
The oven is a cove on the Lake of Central Park. It attracts a good number of birds during each season, including the winter.
Today, there were a number of birds, including a Red-tailed Hawk, a Hermit Thrush, numerous Northern Cardinals, numerous Tufted Titmice, and a Cooper's Hawk that has been roosting in the same location nearby since at least early January.
I'm back in New York and finally had a chance to visit Central Park today. Here are a few pictures of a young Red-tailed hawk taking a drink of water at one of the few ice free areas of the Lake today.
On Sunday, I spent the late afternoon looking for Long-eared Owls without success. But I did run into a few hawks.
On the Beresford Apartments, was Pale Male in the oval window, and Lola soaking up the sun on a south facing ledge.
This young hawk was in the Ramble making its way between the official and the not so official bird feeders looking for customers to eat.
This Sharp-shinned Hawk, with prey in talons, was being chased by a Red-tailed Hawk near 69th Street and the West Drive. The Sharp-shinned Hawk evaded the Red-tail and got away with its prey. Everything happened too fast for me to capture the action, but it reminded me that winter is the time to see lots of raptors in New York City.
I went up to Croton-on-Hudson to look for Bald Eagles today. I didn't have any luck finding one, but did run into this Red-tailed Hawk who was hunting in a marsh.
I went looking for Eastern-screech Owls today, but didn't have any luck finding them. The familiar cavities and locations from last year, all turned up empty. A few cavities even had squirrels where owls had been roosting last season.
The day wasn't a wash out however. It included an adult Cooper's Hawk who led me from the Ramble to the Locust Grove. It also included two juvenile Red-tailed Hawks, who seem to get along just fine. Both had just finished meals, and were in trees no more than 100 yards apart.
