I got an email for Ben Cacace yesterday about Red-tailed Hawk activity on the Upper East Side. He had seen hawks bringing twigs to a Con Edison smokestack at their steam plant that takes up the block of 74th to 75th Street between the FDR Drive and York Avenue.

I checked it out as soon as could. The hawks are using the middle ring of the three catwalks around the tower. It looks as though they have only just started to bring materials to the smokestack. The position of the potential nest is just a few degrees counter clockwise from the ladder on the west southwest side of the smokestack.

Sometimes hawks change nest locations at the last minute so this isn’t guaranteed to be the final nest location. But if they do end up using this spot, it will be a bit difficult to watch. The best view will be from the roofs of nearby apartment buildings.

It will also be an interesting summer if they do have a successful nest. John Jay seems like too small a park to bring up fledglings. It wonder if the territory includes part of Roosevelt Island, and if they will bring the fledglings across the river over sometime over the summer?

A. Potential Nest Site
B. Perch
C. Perch
D. John Jay Park