There was about an hour in the morning to go hawk watching on the Lower East Side.  The nest is moving along.  The couple looks young, so we should be prepared for this first attempt not to be successful.

These hawks are looking much darker than usual, since they’re wet.

I went down to see how the nest was doing on Houston Street, on Saturday.   It is starting to look like a real nest, so I think we can definitely call this Manhattan Nest No. 7.  I didn’t see either hawk, but a photographer and a local confirmed nest building activity earlier in the day.  Rumor has it that one of the hawks is banded.

Earlier this winter, when there was a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk in Tompkins Square Park, I received a tip that there was a hawk nest at Houston and the East River Drive.  It seemed like a logical spot, so now that nesting season has begun I went down to take a look.

While walking east down Houston Street towards the river, I saw a Red-tail with a twig flying down Houston Street being followed down the street by it’s mate.  It landed on an air conditioner cage on the top floor of a local school, two blocks from the river.  Two air conditioner cages had twigs, so it look like the pair hasn’t quite decided what to do yet.  We’ll know in a few weeks.  Imagine the potential education the elementary school class may receive!

After working on the nest, both hawks perched on the Lillian Wald Settlement, a building run by the NYC Housing Authority.