3/6-3/8, Midweek Hawkwatching

Despite winter's last gasp, I've been over to the Cathedral each of the last three days to check on the red-tailed hawks. However, the way my schedule works, it's been during what I consider lunch hour, i.e., after 5:00.

Tuesday
I found Isolde sitting in the nest when I got there at 5:20. I didn't immediately spot her as she was sitting closer to St. Andrew's right shoulder and so was only visible from down Morningside Drive.

She shifted about a bit, causing me to once or twice think she had left. Then just before 5:30 she flew over to the trees along the Morningside Drive side of St. Luke's hospital. Twenty seconds later Tristan fluttered down to the same branch, as if he had been perched up above on the hospital roof. Hawk sex immediately ensued.

I wondered if this was one of their favorite "trysting" spots. If so, then some folks at St. Luke's must be getting an eyeful, and an earful, from the activity going on just 15-20 feet outside their windows. As I've described it to a couple people, it "sounds like seagulls fighting." (The title of "Rustling in the Treetops" on my last post is something of a misnomer.)

Unlike Sunday's episode, Tristan hung around afterward for a bit more than five minutes. Perhaps perching five feet away is the hawk version of cuddling. He then flew across the street, perching directly above the sidewalk for a minute or two, then shifted to the next tree over and collected a twig for the nest.

From there he flew over to a chapel roof and then up to the nest, where I couldn't see him as he ducked down to, I assume, put the twig in a good spot. I had trotted down to the 112th St. overlook to see if I could a look at what he was doing, so when he left the nest heading north, I was too far away to see what was going on. But the gullfight noises erupted again from the trees outside St. Luke's, and then Tristan flew down into Morningside Park north of the dog run.

I hung out for another five minutes to see what Isolde's plans were for the night, but by 5:50 I was beginning to lose feeling in one hand due to the cold. Isolde was still perched outside the windows of St. Luke's as I left.

Wednesday
Thankfully, it was a bit warmer and less windy. I got to the Cathedral just a bit earlier but didn't see any hawks about. Then from Morningside Drive I was able to spot a hawk perched atop the Wadleigh Secondary School over toward Seventh/Powell Ave.

After hanging about the 112th St. overlook for a few minutes, I decided to head north and possibly make a pass through Morningside Park. It was almost immediately apparent that another hawk was perched in the park close to the sidewalk up toward 114th St. Looks like Tristan. Is he checking out the cars or the dogs going by?

He didn't stay perched there too long.

But flew into the park and perched in the treetops over the dog run.

Both he and Isolde must have been happy with their respective perches. I left at about 5:40, and Tristan was still above the dog run and Isolde was catching sunset rays atop the Wadleigh.

Thursday
A much quieter day. From about 5:00 to 5:40 there were no hawks in sight, neither at the Cathedral nor atop the Wadleigh, and apparently not in any of the treetops in Morningside Park between 110th St. and 115th St. either. On giving up and starting to leave, I made one last look from up 113th St. at the nest and realized that Isolde was sitting there quietly.

She might have been there anywhere from a minute to 40 for all I know. Depending on the hawk's position and posture, it can sometimes be difficult to see them. They might be ducked down, or else turned so that you're looking at the dark feathers on the back of the head.

I took a few minutes to help out a lost pedestrian looking for a hotel supposedly located on West 113th St. -- turned out that it was in the 200 block but advertised itself as being in Morningside Heights! -- and while I was doing that Isolde made her exit from the nest.