3/20, Equinoctial Hawkwatching

The vernal equinox was officially a few minutes after 8:00 p.m. Tuesday. How fitting that Morningside Park was crowded with robins today.

I checked the Cathedral hawk nest Monday at 5:30, but no hawks were about. Weather was gray and dreary so I didn't hang around longer than ten minutes.

Tuesday I arrived at the Cathedral at 5:45. Looking through glasses across 113th St. from near the hospital loading dock, the sight of a hawk's head was clearly silhouetted. But even as I took my first pic, the hawk dived from the nest and flew east. (The pic is too blurry to share.) Nuts.

Hang about a few minutes and then into the park. The upper lawn at at the 113th St. entrance is a mob scene of robins. I lose count at 50, but it looks like there's about 75 hopping about.

Head down toward the pond. There's a squirrel north of the dog run who remains frozen in position so long I think there must be a hawk around.

But apparently not. Other squirrels nearby are busily foraging.

Two dozen mallards in the pond. Enough that the five Canada geese are being quiet about claiming territorial rights.

Back up to Morningside Drive, watching the robins some more on the way. At the 112th St. overlook close to 6:20 I realize that a hawk is in the nest again, sitting or even standing high, but it's back turned so that it's almost not visible.

After I wonder around the corner to 113th St. and take pix from the other angle...

...the hawk disappears when I look down to check the time setting on my camera. Did she fly away? Is she hunkered down so low that she can't be seen? My suspicion is the former, but no one really knows how deep the best is, so it could be the latter.

Next hawk sighting comes just after 6:40 from the 111th St. overlook. A hawk is flying about above the rooftops on the other side of Manhattan Ave. between 114. and 111th St. Impossible to take pix as there are too many trees close to the overlook and it drives the autofocus on my camera nuts. And me nuts too.

Hang about there a few more minutes, then back up to the 112th overlook to check the nest again. Then wander north some more and realize that the "stuff" in the tree up toward 114th St. is a hawk. It's Tristan and he's feeding.

There's a guy and a dog on the lawn maybe 25 feet south of Tristan but they have no clue that he's up there. But those of us on the sidewalk have a nice, albeit branch-cluttered view. I chat with one area knowledgeable resident until almost 7:00 while we watch.

People wander off. Then at 7:00 Tristan flies across the street, still carrying a morsel, and perches on the "family vase" on the corner of the roof of St. Luke's.

He only stays a minute or two before taking for the north. Last sight of him is close to the 116th St. overlook.

I check the nest again from the south side. No sign of Isolde. Walk back north and encounter the knowledgeable lady again, and she indicates she has seen one or both of the hawks in a tree in the park near 116th St. often. It may be a favorite roosting spot.

Just after 7:10 the light is going and I opt to leave. I shoot two more pix of the nest out of the habit. Only when I plug my camera into the computer 20 minutes later do I discover that Isolde is back in the nest.

The pic is timestamped 7:12. Sunset was officially 7:06. It might, it could be... perhaps Isolde is going to spend a night in the nest?