Good News and Bad

The new nest at the Beresford Apartments and the relocated nest at St. John the Divine both seem to have failed this year. We’ll see if either pair tries to have a second clutch.

On the other hand, hawks have been seen with nesting material on The San Remo and a fire escape at 100th and Third Avenue.  So, we could be in for some late surprises this year.

The Fifth Avenue nest now has three very visible eyasses.  One’s a bit of a bully and they can now move around the nest with ease.

20150512RTHA01
20150512RTHA02
20150512RTHA03
20150512RTHA04
20150512RTHA05
20150512RTHA06
20150512RTHA07
20150512RTHA08
20150512RTHA09
20150512RTHA10
20150512RTHA11
20150512RTHA12
20150512RTHA13
20150512RTHA14
20150512RTHA15
20150512RTHA16

Livestream Update

Today, I worked on testing my new live broadcasting setup.  The technology is maturing and I hope to be able to do weekly broadcasts.  My Livestream page is livestream.com/urbanhawks. Follow me to be notified of broadcasts.

This year my live broadcast technology stack includes:

  • Blackmagic Production Camera 4K EF
  • Røde Stereo Microphone
  • Various Canon Lenses and teleconverters, including a 600mm L II f/4 lens
  • ikan V-mount Batteries and Switronix Jetpack for Power
  • Teradek Vidiu Encoder with a SDI to HDMI converter
  • Teradek Live:Air iPad Production Suite running on an iPad Mini 3
  • iPhone 6 for LTE G4 connectivity and a mobile WiFi network

Think of all this as a mobile news van shrunk down to the size of a backpack.

Sheep Meadow Has Hatched

I had visited the Sheep Meadow nest on Friday.  Except for the female being higher in the nest than normal, there was no sign of a hatch.  But today, after a visit by the male who seemed to be mesmerized by the contents of the nest, the female did a brief feeding.  It will be a few days before we can take “baby pictures”, but it’s great to see these hawks do well in their second year.

This year, the male has a strange tail feather.  While red in color it has stripes like a juvenile feather.  Something I’ve never seen before on a Red-tailed Hawk.

201500509RTHA01
201500509RTHA02
201500509RTHA03
201500509RTHA04
201500509RTHA05
201500509RTHA06
201500509RTHA07
201500509RTHA08
201500509RTHA09
201500509RTHA10