The Tompkins Square Park female has begun spending a great deal of time on the nest during the day and is over-nighting on the nest now.  Egg laying and brooding should be right around the corner.

The Fifth Avenue nest is so mature and built up, Octavia is almost invisible on the nest.  When I visited during a break in the rain on Sunday, you could only see the top of her head!

I keep going to Tompkins Square Park hoping the female will overnight on the nest and show signs she's starting to lay eggs.  But instead I get a couple who is loving courtship and shows no sign of nesting.  At this rate, other hawks may have eyasses before this female lays eggs!

Not much has changed this week. 

The major news is that NYU will not be providing a web feed this year from the Washington Square Park nest. NYU took over after the New York Times stopped sponsoring the camera last year, but choose not to continue this year. 

While NYU may not be continuing the camera, their commitment to the hawks is still very strong.  Last year, when the fledglings were on the street, NYU's Public Safety team was very protective of them.  This support of the hawks will continue.

I was hoping the Tompkins Square Park pair would start nesting soon, but they continue to act like a young couple.  They're building the nest up a little higher and copulating a great deal, but seem to be in no rush to start having a family.

I guess that's not too bad.  While the old guard is quietly sitting on nests, this pair gives me something to watch!

The Riverside hawks are back at the same location as last year, a building on West End Avenue.  The nest looks good.  While I was there today, the hawks were looking at the nest and seemed to be saying "its just right" and ready to go.  But they don't look to be nesting just yet.

Octavia and Pale Male have eggs and this means a limited about of action at the nest site.  Octavia gets a few breaks during the day, rolls her eggs and changes positions.  But you can watch the nest for an hour and see next to nothing.  This was the case when I visited the nest on Saturday.

American Woodcocks have been in Central Park for about the last week.  I caught up with one on Saturday.  They're very well camouflaged, worm eating birds with a silly walk and mating ritual. 

The bird was doing a good job of hiding, but we did get some glimpses!

Later in the afternoon, the Tompkins Square Park provided the opposite experience from the Washington Square Park nest.  The hawks who copulated three times in less than an hour and the colorful characters of the park, who also were observing the hawks, made the sound track not safe for work.

Newly established nests have a tendency to lay eggs later than older nests.  So, no one should worry that this nest is a few weeks behind the more established nests in Central Park or Washington Square. 

When hawks are sitting on eggs, not much happens.  If you're lucky you'll be watching when the female wants to take a brief break from her egg sitting duties.  But only if you're lucky. 

Tonight, I had no such luck at Washington Square Park! Bobby was on One Fifth Avenue briefly, and Rosie was on the nest.  Her head is slightly visible to the left of black window frame and her tail feathers peak out on the right.  She didn't even get up to stretch while I was at the park!

Glenn Alvarez has confirmed that the Highbridge/Swindler's Cove is where it was last year and that a hawk was sitting on the nest when he visited the nest

There are multiple reports of hawks on El Doroado Apartments.  These hawks have also been seen carrying twigs.

The Morningside Hawks blog confirms the J.Hood Wright Park nest is brooding.

There is no NYU/Washington Square webcam news to report.  NYU has not let anyone know if they will be setting up a camera this year.

After posting my scorecard for the year, I got an email that hawks were again being spotted on the El Dorado with nesting materials.  I spotted one Red-tail on the El Dorado this evening, but didn't see its mate.  Hopefully this year will turn out better than last year when construction workers destroyed the nest just as the female was laying eggs.

Although the late afternoon was quiet, before dusk there was lots of activity at Tompkins Square Park.  It had the usual, copulation, rat hunting and nest visits.  But the surprise of the day was the night time roosting location of the male.  He choose a tree on the west side of Avenue A.  He choose the noisiest place to roost in the neighborhood.  Amazing.

If you have news about any of these locations or a new nest sighting, feel free to pass the news along.

I had some of the best hawk watching in ages on Saturday afternoon in Tompkins Square Park.  The young couple is so full of energy it was great fun to be with them.  High winds limited the ability to get clean video, but who cares.  This is a fantastic couple who can't sit still!

Based on the behavior of Rosie and Bobby tonight, we may have an egg in the Washington Square nest.  Rosie was sitting on the nest when I arrived, took a slight break, returned to the nest and quickly left with some food.

Then Bobby copulated with her, as she was still eating and he relieved her on the nest, as she continued her meal.  Then they switched places and he eat the leftovers.

Octavia, Pale Male's mate has been sitting on the Fifth Avenue nest since Sunday.  A female Red-tailed Hawk can sit on the nest for a few days before laying an egg, so I can't say for sure an egg has already been laid.  But Ocatavia certainly looks to have started the process for the season.

Rosie continues to overnight on the nest, and the pair continues to copulate and work on the nest.  However, we don't have Rosie sitting during the day yet.  This means we're all set, but the eggs haven't arrived just yet.

So, the Washington Square hawk watcher are all keeping an eye out for behavior changes.  It looks like this year Pale Male and Octavia uptown may have beaten Rosie and Bobbie for the first eggs!

Tompkins Square Park after years of hosting juvenile hawks, finally looks to have its own pair of adults who have built a nice nest on top of an air conditioning unit at 9th Street and Avenue B.  I had gone to visit last weekend but didn't take any photographs as the hawks were inactive. 

Today, I found two very active hawks.  They copulated three times and flew around the park multiple times.  The nest reminds me of the nest we had a number of years ago on Houston and Avenue D.

This pair is very, very easy to watch.  This should be a fun year for the residents who live near the park.

I've begun using a Blackmagic Production Camera, which shoots in Ultra HD (four times the resolution of HD.)  If you watch this video in full screen mode, you should have a great viewing viewing experience.

It was a beautiful day in Washington Square Park on Saturday, with warmer weather and plenty of sunshine.  The hawks made lots of nest visits, with the hawks bringing paper and twigs to tidy up.  They copulated on the Silver Building.  Both hawks soared and soared above the park as if to celibrate the warm day.