A fuzzy little head was definitely spotted in the red-tailed hawk nest at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine on Wednesday.
But first...
Tuesday
5:50 - Entered Morningside Park to check the vantage point which has a good view of the east roof line of St. Luke's hospital. No hawks in sight there.
5:55 - Further down into the park to see if there's anything interesting around the pond, etc. There seem to be a lot of mourning doves around.
6:10 - Back up at Morningside Drive north of the 112th St. overlook. Tristan is circling about over rockface hill, goes north, goes south.
6:14 - Tristan appears on Gabriel's horn.
6:15 - Tristan flies off to the southeast.
6:36 - Tristan re-appears on Gabriel's horn.
6:57 - Been at or close to the nest area for the last 30 minutes and no activity at the nest itself. Tristan is still on Gabriel's horn. Exit.
Some ruckus between the hawks and the neighborhood crows erupts a bit later. See Donna Browne's report for more.
Wednesday
5:50 p.m. - Arrive at the nest area to find hawkwatchers gathering. Frederic Lilien has a video camera set up, and Lincoln Karim is crossing Morningside Drive. Two minutes later Bruce Yolton will also appear.
The hawks themselves? Isolde is sitting on the edge of the nest, looking in at something and occasionally looking around.
6:15 - Isolde still at the nest but now there are glimpses of the crown of a fuzzy head. I only see it through binoculars. Bruce gets a couple pix in sequence showing it, but not clearly.
6:20 - Isolde jumps out of the nest for what I figure is a typical "post feeding constitutional". She goes north, and I get my last glimpse of her over the northeast corner of St. Luke's. Bruce reports she then came back south.
6:28 - Bruce spots Isolde perched on the railing on the roof of the Cathedral Gardens, the Barnard student-faculty housing on 110th St., where we saw her perch a lot the beginning of last summer.
Donna soon also arrives.
6:39 - Isolde flies back to the Cathedral...
...and perches on a finial clockwise from the nest.
6:50 - Bruce announces he got a clear picture of a nestling's head.
7:05 - I belatedly find out that Tristan is perched on a horizontal pipe across the outer wall of the Cathedral's unconstructed north transept. Other hawkwatchers indicate he's been there for 30 minutes or more.
7:25 - Isolde and Tristan have quietly remained on their respective perches. I wander around the corner to get a look at Isolde from another angle.
7:29 - Breeze is really ruffling Isolde's feather. Heck, her brood spot is really visible. (Click on picture.)
And poof, within seconds Isolde decides to go somewhere else.
7:31 - Apparently Tristan has also shifted venue. I head west on 113th St to see if he's working the parking lot mice.
7:34 - Ah-ha, a hawk perched on a chimney at St. Luke's. It's Isolde.
7:37 - A hawk flies up to the nest and stays for a bit. At this point I haven't reviewed photos yet so think this must be Isolde and Tristan is on the hospital chimney. But no, it's Tristan making a relatively extended visit to the nest.
7:44 - After leaning over the nest for some time, Tristan picks up the carcass of whatever was served for dinner (presumably two hours ago)...
... and flies off to the southeast. I shoot several more pix of the adult-less nest, and get one that has a five-pixel spot revealing the crown of a nestling's head between St. Andrew's head and forefinger. It was moving about between frames or else I wouldn't have noticed.
(I did say five pixels.)
7:45 - Isolde's still on the chimney.
Approx. 7:55 - Isolde still on the chimney, and Tristan comes flying down Morningside Drive from the north. He pops into the nest, then disappears. Since Donna and I (the only hawkwatchers still about) have been a bit confused about who the hawk was on the chimney, we initially think it's Isolde home to roost. But no, Isolde's on the hospital chimney, and I do get a fragment of a glimpse of something large in the air southeast of the nest.
8:08 - I shoot my last picture of the day: Isolde still on the hospital chimney.
Approx. 8:25 - Exit.
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