Urban Hawks

I caught up with Bobby, the male adult Red-tailed Hawk of Washington Square Park at dusk.  He was on D’Agostino Hall, 37 Washington Square West and 29 Washington Square West before flying north towards 8th Street.  No sign of his mate.

Both adults spent about an hour on the West face of the Silver Building, using the shelter of the roof overhang to stay out of the drizzle.  I wasn’t able to track them after they left.

The first photograph is of the nest ledge on the Bobst library and shows the location of the two cameras. (As in past years, I suspect we’ll have a small blind spot on the western side of the ledge.)

Both adults were active in the park after about 4:00 pm on Friday.  Locations visited were…

• Both hawks soaring high above Broadway from about 3rd Street to 10th Street, escorting a third raptor away.
• A visit by at least one hawk to One Fifth Avenue’s north side
• The female perching on a water tank roof on the NW side of the park
• The female moving to the Silver building on the NE side of the park, perching on the AC unit, then on the NYU flagpole
• The male appearing low first on a street lamp on Washington Square North, then a tree inside the park’s NE corner
• Both hawks then moving to the SW side of the park, the male to the Judson Cross, and the female a block outside the park on a Law School dorm roof
• Both hawks taking off to roost for the night.  The female to an unknown location and the male to a pipe on a building at the NW corner of the park

New York University has returned the camera to the Washington Square Park nest on the Bobst Library.  Thank you to those who lobbied for the camera to be returned, as well has the President’s and Public Relations offices of NYU. The link on Ustream is here. 

The nest is very quiet now, but I’m looking forward to watching the feed in the spring.  The new cameras (a main one and a backup) are wonderful.