Belted Kingfisher
A Belted Kingfisher was on the shore of The Pond in Central Park on Wednesday. I caught up with it while it was eating a fish. It took a lot of work to swallow the fish!
Egg Roll on 927 Fifth Avenue
I saw Octavia roll her eggs on Saturday afternoon, while Pale Male stood guard on the Carlyle.
Another Exchange at 927 Fifth Avenue
My daily social distancing walk took me around the southern areas of Central Park. I first caught up with the two hawks around Grand Army Plaza. One was on 9 West 57th and the other on a perch I just discovered, 520 Park Avenue (which is really 42 East 60th).
I then saw both of the San Remo hawks on the San Remo. The nest on The Majestic look big enough to stop an egg from rolling off, but it still isn’t built properly.
Lastly, I saw and filmed Octavia leave the nest and Pale Male take over incubating duties. Sorry about the poor video, the wind was bouncing my camera around.
More 927 Fifth Avenue Brooding
I found a good vantage point to watch Octavia incubate her eggs, off the beaten track so I can safely practice social distancing. Nothing much happened while I watched her for about an hour.
Grand Army Plaza
There have been hawks for years around Central Park South. They’ve nested on the Trump Parc building and 888 Seventh Avenue with success. Over the last few years, the Crown Building and the Plaza Hotel a bit further east have been where we thought there might be nests, but haven’t been sure.
Today, I caught up with the current pair. I heard the male, who looks young, cry out the “Honey, I have leftovers” call. (She never responded.) With the city being so quiet, I was able to find him on a third floor window of The Plaza Hotel. He finished eating, and then started to attack his own reflection in the window, before getting caught in some pigeon spikes and then flying off.
He then made a number of loops around Grand Army Plaza, and perched on The Crown Building, the building at 58th and Fifth that has the Bergdorf’s Mens Store, and 9 West 57th. The female was perched there. They both took off, but returned to 9 West 57th and copulated.
Like the last few years, no clue about the possible nest location.
2020 Manhattan Red-tailed Hawk Nest Update 6
Three updates:
- I was able to confirm the 350 Central Park West is brooding.
- Once again hawks have been seen bringing nesting material to the Cardinal Cooke Health Care Center, at 106th and Fifth Avenue.
- I saw the pair of hawks that hang out around Grand Army Plaza today, on various buildings, with one eating on The Plaza Hotel, and the pair copulating on 9 West 57th.
