It looks like we might have fewer nests this year in Manhattan, but I’m sure we’ll get more news after nests hatch. Eight nests are confirmed to have brooding pairs. I haven’t gotten reports about CCNY and have gotten conflicting reports about the two West End Avenue nests.
There are also a number of areas where nests may be found over the next month. I also suspect that we’re missing nests in Harlem and Tribeca.
I was on my way to visit CCNY uptown when I saw an email on my phone with a report of a grounded hawk in Washington Square Park. So, I switched subway trains and headed for the park. When I got there I found a hawk in a tree looking a bit stunned, but otherwise fine. It didn’t look like either of the nesting adults, so I was confused. Then the resident male, Booby appeared on the Judson church cross and I could see the female on the Ustream camera feed, so I knew for sure this was an intruder.
Bobby hunted nearby, caught a small rodent and ate it, before going off to roost in a favorite spot. Only after Bobby had left did the intruder leave the park, flying down LaGuardia Place.
The adult male of Washington Square Park gave the female a break from egg sitting, spent some time on the Judson Church Cross and then spent time on low perches on the southern side of the park.
My visit to the Lower East Side started with a trip to Houston and Avenue D where I saw a Red-tailed Hawk fly off a nest under construction on a school air conditioner. This is the same site of a nest built in 2008. We’ll see what happens with this pair/nest.
Then it was off to Tompkins Square Park, where the activity was similar to yesterday’s.
The hawks in Tompkins Square Park are brooding. Today, I got to see a few nest exchanges, both hawks share a rodent, and see them copulate.
After the snowstorm the park ended up with an record number of over 40 American Woodcocks on Thursday. It also had a Wilson’s Snipe. While the number of American Woodcocks was much lower in the park today, I was able to get photographs of both species. The first two photographs are of the American Woodcock, the rest are of the Wilson’s Snipe.
Link to New York Times about this year’s Woodcock migration.
