This location is active again with the pair rebuilding the nest. The male is bringing sticks to the old location on an air conditioner and the new female to a faux balcony a few stories higher. It will be interesting to see who wins. I only got a few pictures of one of the hawks today, although I saw both escort an intruder out of the area.
When I visited the 350 Central Park West nest on May 9th, everything seemed fine. The mother was feeding, the father nearby and three healthy eyasses were popping up.
On Tuesday, I saw no signs of life in the nest and no sign of the parents. I stayed for over an hour in a light rain. While it is possible that the eyasses have grown enough for the parents to leave them alone for an extended period of time, it seems odd this early in the season.
I will revisit the nest soon, but we should prepare ourselves for bad news about this nest.
My timing seems to be great at 350 Central Park West. I arrived yet again to see a feeding in progress. Three eager babies were getting fed. The father was nearby and perched on the building to the north of 350 Central Park West for about fifteen minutes.
In the early stages of watching a nest, the eyasses are too small to see, so you have to wait until they get a bit bigger to count them. Today, I was excited to see that the nest had three eyasses. During the feeding, for the most part it looked like two eyasses, but at one point all three heads were visible. Congratulations to the new parents.
During a feeding this afternoon, I got to see the first glimpse of an eyass (baby hawk) on the 350 Central Park West nest. It was only for about a second, but it was great to see. Red-tailed Hawks usually have clutches of two or three, so I suspect more heads will be seen in the days to come.
I spent less than an hour watching the 350 Central Park West nest on Friday.
It was a great birding day for the park, so hawks took a backseat. I saw 53 species. It helped that ended the day birding with Nadir Souirgi’s New York City Audubon Birding Tour of the North Woods, which leaves from 103rd and Central Park West, at 5:30 p.m. Mondays/Wednesdays/Fridays during migration. It’s free and Nadir is an excellent birder and walk leader. Details are on the New York City Audubon, www.nycaudubon.org website.
While I was at the nest not much happened. The female stood up with her lower chest near the eyasses for most of the time. This is another sign that all of the eggs have hatched and brooding is over.
