12/10, Hawks who Like Hide and Seek, and Softball

Juvenile red-tail at Central Park Great Hill, Dec. 10

A belated report on hawkwatching in Central Park on gorgeous Sunday, Dec. 10.

The first part of the day was a game of hide and seek, and there were multiple parties involved. The second part involved a hawk who apparently enjoys watching softball.

I arrived at the West 100th St. entrance around 1:10. At 1:15 near the north side of the North Meadow, something hawk-like is seen flying low and north, then popping into a tree at edge of the meadow. Approaching and using the field glasses, it's apparent from the tail feathers it's a juvenile red-tail. A minute later it dives out of the tree, crosses the service road and is seen flying low and east along the Loch/Ravine.

A minute or two later a hawk flies from perhaps more north and east and into the trees in that area. Some more flying about and it perches in trees west of the Wildflower Meadow. This time the tail feathers are red. I chat with some joggers on the service road for a few minutes before going into the trees to see if I can get a iewing angle that reveals more than the hawk's backside. At 1:38 I'm in front of and below the hawk; the light belly-band indicates it's probably Tristan from the Cathedral. He's looking around a lot, either watching for the juvie or perhaps scoping the ground for prey, and flutters between branches a few times. Five minutes later he takes off toward the Great Hill and I lose track of him.

I make the mistake of chatting a few more minutes chatting with some ladies who had been walking along the Loch/Ravine path, so heading toward the Great Hill might not prove fruitful. But as I'm making up my mind which direction to go, a hawk flies overhead toward the North Meadow. I head that way but lose the hawk amongst the tree branches.

At 2:10, after some more wandering about the service road area, Green Hill, etc., I'm again in the trees near the Loch and headed toward the Great Hill. Again a hawk flies overhead, again toward the North Meadow. This time I have some better luck tracking it, only losing sight of it as I reach the edge of teh North Meadow, where the hawk seems to disappear into the sun somewhere around the northwest side of the meadow.

Ah, another hawkwatcher. Bruce is on the path along the north edge of the meadow and indicates he had seen two hawks overhead. We move west, but then break up as I decide to head for the Great Hill whilst he apparently turns south. Bruce's pictures from the day show that he found Isolde from the Cathedral in the trees along the edge of the park around 90th St. Hmmm, interesting. That seems farther south han I had though the Cathedral hawks ranged, but then I've not monitored them in the park enough to really be sure what the edge of their territory is.

Meanwhile, I've walked to the top of the Great Hill and seen nothing, peered through branches at the statue of Gabriel on the Cathedral roof and seen nothing in that direction either. Turning around and slowly heading back south, at 2:30 I spot a hawk perched on a branch overlooking the loop road, 100-150 feet downhill from where the road's highest point. The field glasses again reveal the tail feathers of a juvenile. I make my way through 100 feet of dead leaves and winter thicket to where I can get a better look at him or her.

The juvenile has that nervous look that I associate with a juvenile hawk whose violating an adult's territory, but perhaps it just looks that way because it's looking around at the ground. At 2:41 it seems poised to leap off the branch at something to the west, but a moment later it instead flies off to the north. Trying to follow, I think I get one more look of it flying off another tree branch and then crossing the loop road in the general direction of Blockhouse No. 1.

After ten minutes of casting about for the juvenile, the heck with it. It's close to 3:00 and time to head down to the Great Lawn where hawkwatching is nominally easier.

At 3:25 I've walked down the middle of the Great Lawn, ducked when I relaized that I was walking through the outfield of someone's softball practice, and reached the park path near the Turtle Pond. Ah, there's Lola perched in the high window at the Beresford. Heading west, I've barely gone 10 feet before I realize there's Palemale sitting in a tree overlooking the softball players. How did I miss him? Oy!

One hawkwatcher was already there and indicated Palemale had been sitting in that particular spot for a couple hours. Other hawkwatchers began to gather; Bruce arrived from the North Meadow, Stella from the June group watching the Cathedral fledglings, then Lincoln and others whose names I haven't learned.

Palemale finally shows signs of activity just before 4:00 but when he flies out of the softball tree, he only flies over to the top a tree overlooking the path along the edge of the Great Lawn. He shuffles around for the next 10-15 minutes, flutters between branches a couple times, but despite the breeze, it's beginning to look like he's picked his spot to roost for the night.

The light is getting dim and hawkwatchers began to wander off in ones and twos. By 4:20 I also call it a day and head out.

But one last note about red-tail hawks and the North Meadow. Twice during the day I chatted with other park users with interesting hawk sightings. The first, while viewing the juvenile at the Great Hill, said that he had seen a hawk perching on an terrace or window railing at an apartment building on Central Park West and 96th St. Hmmm, could be Lola or Isolde I suppose, especially if Bruce has seen Lola as far south as 90th St. Later while watching Palemale, a couple described watching two hawks in the air over the tennis courts, engaging in activity that sounds, er, hmm, ahem, suggestive. Tristan and Isolde, in the mood, one wonders?