A Northern Saw-when Owl was in Central Park today. It may be an owl that over wintered in the park or a migrant. I was surprised to see one so late in the year. But I looked up the frequency of Northern Saw-when Owl sighting over the last twenty year in Manhattan on eBird.org, I discovered Northern Saw-when Owls are seen until mid-April, with late March being a peak period for sightings.
I caught up with the adults of the 350 Central Park West nest this afternoon. The female was sitting on the nest and the male was soaring above The Pond.
The female at 350 Central Park West has started sitting on the nest. I would suspect that there is a single egg with one or two still to be laid over the next few days. The male stayed in two trees across from 350 CPW while I was watching the nest. This is the fifth confirmed nest for the year in Manhattan.
It was very windy so the video has some very shaky patches. I included them just to demonstrate she was clearly on the nest.
I arrived just at the right time to see the Washington Square pair fly off together and then copulate before the female returned to the nest to continue incubating her eggs. There are currently two eggs in the nest, with the possibility of one more in the next day or two.
My post about brooding nests yielded news that the Inwood Hill Park nest started brooding on Sunday. So, that makes the fourth confirmed, active nest of the season.
I went up to 350 Central Park West to see if they were brooding yet, but it looks like they haven’t yet. They did however copulate over the playground at 96th/97th.
Three nests in Manhattan have been confirmed to have brooding hawks so far this year, Washington Square Park, Tompkins Square Park and Fifth Avenue. This leaves a number of previous nest sites to check over the next few weeks: Inwood Hill Park, Randalls Island, St. John the Divine, 350 Central Park West, and 310 West 72nd Street. (I’ve heard good reports about activity at each nest except for Randalls Island and 310 West 72 Street but these are never closely watched.)
This leaves a large amount of northern Manhattan without known nests, including northern Riverside Park, High Bridge Park and Fort Tryon Park. Also, although the male died at 96th and Lexington and the nest was removed after the building was tagged with graffiti in the fall, may area residents have reported seeing hawks in the area. The CCNY nest on Shepard Hall lost the male just before nesting season last year, so it is possible that hawks will return to this nest too.
I doubt Manhattan only has eight nests this year. Let’s hope we find the new ones soon!
So this is my preliminary guess at nests for this season and older sites that will need checking:
