Riverside Park Red-tailed Hawks Archives

Fifth Avenue Nest And Other News

March 2026 brought lots of wonderful surprises. After a few years without many successful nests, the late winter and early spring has brought lots of good news. Tahj Holiday has been one of the major scouts this year and deserves lots of credit for keeping track of many new nests.

Central Park has four brooding pairs currently, “the original” at 927 Fifth Avenue, one on the New York Athletic Club, and two tree nests along Central Park West at 87th and 93rd Street. One nest is active at 90th and West End Avenue, and another is being established in the high 70s along Riverside Drive. Plus we have old standbys like the nests on Governors Island and in Tompkins Square Park.

The most surprising nest of all is Pale Male’s old nest. After years of inactivity, Octavia. Pale Male’s last mate has attracted a young male, and is now sitting on eggs. Octavia’s fertility is in question, so expectations are low for this nest but we’ll see what happens in a month or so.

June 25, 2024July 5, 2024Riverside Park Red-tailed Hawks

102nd and Riverside Fledglings

The eyasses fledged last week while I was away on vacation. On a quick visit to the area I found two of the fledglings perched calmly in trees near the nest waiting out the strong wind gust in the late afternoon.

June 11, 2024June 11, 2024Riverside Park Red-tailed Hawks

Tricky Eyasses at 102nd Street

The 102nd Street and Riverside nest has a deep western edge that makes it easy for the eyasses to hide. Today, I kept seeing two, but only got glimpses of the third. They’re looking great but still a bit young to fledge. One of the parents was frequenting some scaffolding on a tall Riverside Drive building around 105th.

June 5, 2024Riverside Park Red-tailed Hawks

102nd and Riverside

I spent about 30 minutes at the 102nd Street and Riverside Drive nest. All of the eyasses look healthy and they had just been fed when I arrived. They look great. They seem to be the youngest of the hawks I’ve been following this year.

May 18, 2024May 18, 2024Riverside Park Red-tailed Hawks

Three at Riverside

I was finally about to see the eyasses at 102nd and Riverside Drive. There are three! It was nice to see them and both parents. There was a feeding and then the eyasses went to sleep. As is common with new nests, this one is a few weeks behind the other nests in the city.

Unless you live in a building on Riverside Drive on a high floor the nest is very difficult to see right now. The nest is in a tree on the west side of the drive almost directly above a streetlight. The light is in the middle of the block between 101st and 102nd. To view the nest you need to go to the lawn on the east side of the drive, between the service road and the drive, and find a window through the trees to see the nest. There is a dirt path, and if you walk just a few steps south of the path you can find the windows. One is almost directly opposite the light and one is about fifteen feet north.

If you look closely, you can see all three eyasses in this image.

May 8, 2024Riverside Park Red-tailed Hawks

102nd and Riverside has Hatched

All signs are the 102nd Street and Riverside Avenue Red-tailed Hawk nest has hatched. The female was sitting high, looking in and there were lots of flies. I didn’t see a feeding but the nest looks like it has hatched. Keep an eye out for little ones!