Urban Hawks

April 21, 2016December 15, 2020Red-tailed Hawk Nest Updates

2016 Manhattan Nests – Update 5

Please email with any corrections or additions.

Updates are:

Highbridge nest may have moved, so I’ve put it in the possible nest category.
J. Hood Wright Park, CCNY, St. John, Fifth Avenue, and 72 Street have all hatched.
There is a delightful photograph of the 72nd Street eyasses and their mother in the West Side Rag.
Inwood Hill Park has most likely hatched, but I haven’t received confirmation yet.

Updates after posting: The 8 East 96th Street nest appears to have failed after the nest fell apart, two eyasses confirmed at 116th and Riverside, and one egg has hatched as Washington Square Park.

April 19, 2016December 22, 2020927 5th Avenue Red-tailed Hawks

Obsessed with Fifth Avenue

It happens every year. I know it takes a few days before the eyasses are big enough to see, but I always try too soon to see them. I check every angle but it doesn’t help. I just need to be patient.

April 19, 2016December 22, 2020927 5th Avenue Red-tailed Hawks

The last thing I needed to see to be sure the Fifth Avenue nest had hatched I saw on Monday evening, the classic feeding of an eyass. The mother pulls a piece of food off the prey and gently twists her head by 45-90 degrees to hand the food off to the eyass. Seeing this behavior removed all doubts about the nest hatching for me. Now the questions is how many eyasses is she feeding, two or three?

April 18, 2016December 22, 2020927 5th Avenue Red-tailed Hawks

Fifth Avenue Maybe?

There is a good chance the Fifth Avenue nest has hatched. Food was visible, both hawk let the nest be exposed for long periods of time, and there were lots of flies. Plus, Octavia may or may not have done a feeding based on who you asked.

When some other hawk observers asked me what I thought, I said I’d like to wait at least one more day before calling it for certain. Things all looked right but why not wait a day to be sure.

April 17, 2016December 22, 2020927 5th Avenue Red-tailed Hawks

Fifth Avenue

I was hoping to see signs of Pale Male and Octavia’s nest hatching today. But it looks like we’re still a few days away. Octavia spent a great deal of time standing up off the eggs, but it was a warm sunny day, so this could just have been due to the weather.

April 15, 2016December 25, 2020Riverside Park Red-tailed Hawks

116th and Riverside Has Hatched

Although we can’t see the eyasses yet, frequent trips off the nest by the female, flies, what look like feedings and the male bringing in food, make it clear the nest has hatched. Nice to see a young couple with a new nest be successful. Between this nest, the Grant’s Tomb nest and the Peregrine Falcons on Riverside Church this should be a fun area to watch. And St. John the Divine is also a short walk away!