I haven’t been over to lower Riverside Park since last Spring.  I was there in the late afternoon on Sunday and saw both the male and female. 

The male spent most of his time on top of two tall buildings, either a popular perch on a water tower at around 80th or the south tower of the Normandy apartment building.  His eye color has darkened since last year, as was to be expected.

The female of the pair, whose broken beak looks to be recovering nicely, spent most of the afternoon moving from street light to street light over the West Side Drive.  She landed in a few trees, but seemed to enjoy the views and warm sunlight offered by the street lights.

I didn’t see either hawk hunting or feeding while I was observing them.  Nor did I find any sign of a new nest.   I’d expect we’ll find the nest in the next few weeks.  The hawks hormones will be kicking into overdrive by the end of the month.

As I was on my way home, I saw the outline of one of them roosting in a tree south of 79th Street in the park area between the highway and Riverside Drive.

Let’s hope this year goes better for this pair, after the tragic poisoning of their offspring in 2008. This pair will certainly have learned from last year. I suspect they’ll find a more stable place to establish their new nest. 

However, second generation rodenticides are still being used by buildings bordering Riverside Drive.   It’s too bad that these birds seem to be better at learning from their experiences than the humans in their territory.