I've been meaning to get up to Highbridge Park to see how the red-tail pair there are doing. James beat me to it, visiting yesterday and finding the female making a visit to her nest.
Late Saturday afternoon when I finally made it up there, Martha was in the nest, and sitting lower than when James saw her. It leads one to suspect that if she hasn't laid her first egg yet, then it's likely to occur within the next day or two.
The Highbridge nest location, by the way, has returned to where it was two years ago. Unfortunately for hawk watchers, that means it's 80-100 feet from the closest point with any sort of decent vantage. Even then, there are twigs in the way, and when trees leaf out in mid April, it will be very difficult to see.
I watched the nest for about 15 minutes. There was no sign of her mate, George, in the area during that span. It was just Martha and me and a bunch of starlings.
Afterward, I headed down to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. There was no sign of either Norman or Isolde in the area, and in fact it's been 11 days since the last time I saw either of them in the vicinity of the nest area despite having checked the area six or seven times. But Isolde has been a late brooder compared to the other red-tail mamas about town, so it could be another week or two before she starts.
Elsewhere, it's been reported that Mama at the Briarwood Queens started brooding this past week. Other hawks such as the Riverside Boat Basin pair have been diligently working on their nests.
You can also add Inwood, Pale Male, Charlotte and Jr., 2 in Prospect Park, and the Astoria Hawks.
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