April 18, 2016

4/15, Grant's Tomb

Grant's Tomb Hawk Nest - 7124

On Thursday we saw that there had been a hatch at the hawk nest at Riverside and 116th St., and late Friday afternoon came word from its near neighbor to the north. In fact, we learned that not only did the Grant's Tomb red-tail nest have its own baby hawk, the hatchling looked big enough to be a week old. An additional report later in the weekend indicated that one of the neighborhood birdwatchers had indeed seen feeding behavior at the Grant's Tomb nest the weekend before.

But unfortunately for me, by the time I made it over to Grant's Tomb nest on Friday, baby hawk viewing was over. Baby was snoozing, and mama had perched on the side of the nest keeping watch.

I ended up wandering about the area, exploring for alternative viewing angles. There was even a spot in front of the tomb steps where you could look between the swings of a large eagle statue and through numerous tree branches, and see the nest at the top of the light stanchion.

Grant's Tomb Raptors - 7153

At one point it did look like maybe mama was preparing to start another feeding. She was bent over something fuzzy along the side of the nest, although it looked like the carcass of some prey. But no, no sign of a baby hawk popping up for food, and late dinner did not ensue. Drat.

Grant's Tomb Hawk Nest - 7171

And again mama perched on the side of the nest where she could an eye on things.

Grant's Tomb Hawk Nest - 7156

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