Urban Hawks

April 22, 2007December 15, 2020St. John/Columbia Red-tailed Hawks

All Wet on 110th

I went by the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine on my way home from Inwood Hill. As usual for this nest, you couldn’t see the sitting hawk.

I went down to 110th and saw a hawk on 301 West 110th Street. It looked all wet. It hasn’t rained for two days. Did the nest fill up with water during the Nor’easter and are they incubating the eggs on a water logged nest? Or did the hawk just take a bath somewhere?

Update: Reports from other hawk watchers over the last few days is that both hawks have looked dry. So, the verdict is that all is fine with the nest.

Old School 2 – New School ?

I went up to Inwood Hill Park, in addition to Highbridge yesterday. Although the female was sitting much higher on the nest, I didn’t see any baby hawks. Neither did Robert B. Schmunk who was up there at the same time.

On Saturday evening, I saw that Alice Danna had also been up to Inwood Hill Park (but earlier in the day), and had seen two eyasses with one of the rangers (via Donna Browne’s Palemaleirregulars blog.)

So, I gave it a second try on Sunday and was able to confirm Alice’s report. I didn’t see two eyasses, but the mother’s behavior would make me believe that there was more than the one eyas.

This makes the two “old school” tree nests in Manhattan a success, while we don’t yet know the fate of the three “new school” building nests, 5th Avenue, St. John the Divine and 888 7th Avenue. So the current score is Old School 2 – New School ?.

Below are pictures of the Inwood Hill Park female and her eyas(ses?) There would be no sign of an eyas and then a head would pop up for a few seconds. It was impossible to tell if it was the same eyas or multiple eyasses.

April 21, 2007December 22, 2020Highbridge Park Red-tailed Hawks

Manhattan Red-tailed Hawk Babies

I’m happy to report that the Highbridge Red-tailed Hawk nest has at least two eyasses.

The second eyass is visible on the right.

In playing back multiple frames, it was possible to see that there were two independent chicks and not just one bird.

April 21, 2007December 21, 2020Owls

Saturday, April 21st

After the Fledgling was spotted out in the open, I though I would have a good chance seeing it during the daytime on Saturday. Chris emailed, that the owl was in the same tree as yesterday, so I went up in the early afternoon.

I couldn’t find the owls but a birder named Kathy was there watching two Starlings display and copulate. I asked her if she had seen the owls and she said no but helped me look. She found Herringbone in a tree just north of the Hawthorne tree.

The Fledgling and Trident made themselves visible when the Fledgling started looking at an ant and followed it as it moved along the tree!

April 20, 2007December 16, 2020Owls

Friday, April 20th

Marie had been predicting that the Fledgling would soon be independent. I had argued back that without tree cover or warm weather, the family might stay in the cavity longer than would be normal.

Today, Chris found the Fledgling in a Hawthorne tree, where it most likely spent the day. Ironically, it was a warm day, trees were not leaf covered but enough buds were on the tree to hide the bird, and it was the correct time for the fledgling to start being independent. So, no clear answer to our riddle.

Owl watchers for the evening were Jim, Chris, Noreen, Barbara and myself.

April 20, 2007December 21, 2020927 5th Avenue Red-tailed Hawks

Day 41 on 5th Avenue

After two years of nest failures on 5th Avenue, all eyes are on the hawk nest to see if there are any signs of hatching.

James Lewis has been keeping track of Pale Male and his mates for years and has compiled a chart of dates. Since it is impossible to tell when the eggs are actually laid, Jim has measured the date between the first night the female hawk overnights on the nest and the day an egg hatches. This date range has been between 35 and 41 days for the nest site.

According to Lincoln Karim’s Pale Male website, Lola spent her first night on the nest on March 9th. This would have made April 19th the 41st day.

But Lincoln Karim, also observed that Lola, may not have stayed overnight on the nest on March 10th. So the start date may be the 10th or 11th of May.

So, expect large crowds of nervous hawk watchers this weekend at the Model Boat Pond.

The pictures below are from Friday evening. Pale Male was on nest, and the pictures are of Lola returning and Pale Male leaving and going off to his favorite Met security camera.