Manhattan Hawk Nest Checklist, 2016

First hatch amongst New York City's red-tailed hawk nests is imminent, so it's time to review the nesting sites in Manhattan for the season. Last year there were thirteen known red-tail nests in Manhattan, and this year it seems there will be more. There were 26 known hatches at twelve of last year's nests, and apparently 24 fledges.

The following checklist of seventeen locations includes all of last year's sites plus four new spots where there has been new hawk activity reported in March and April 2016. Three One of last year's sites is not yet confirmed to have nesting activity in 2016, while at least two of the new locations definitely do. One new site suffered a fatality and may or may not be used in 2016. Sites where I have seen hawk nesting activity or heard directly from someone who has are marked with a *. Last year's sites that are not yet confirmed to be in use this year are marked with a ?. Years indicate when a nesting area became active, not necessarily when the current nest was first built.

	Location	Since
*	Inwood Hill Park	bef. 2004
?	Highbridge/Swindler Cove	bef. 2007
*	Fairview Ave./Gorman Park	2014
*	J. Hood Wright Park	2012
*	CCNY-Shepard Hall	bef. 2006
*	Grant's Tomb	2015
*	Riverside Park at 116th St	2016
*	St. John the Divine	2006
*	Fifth Ave. at 96th St.	2016
*	West End Ave. at 84th St.	2008/2012
*	Fifth Ave. at 74th St.	1995
*	CPW-San Remo	2015
*	Central Park-Sheep Meadow	2014
	West End Ave. at 72nd St.	2016
*	NYU-Washington Square	2011
*	Tompkins Square Park	2014
*	Chinatown	2016

Working from north to south, the nest areas are:

Inwood Hill Park:
The nesting area in Inwood is one of the oldest in the Manhattan, possibly the oldest. Certainly it was well established by 2004. Except for 2013, the nest has been in one of two trees in the ravine just south of the playing field and close to Shorrakapoch Rock. (The one year elsewhere was probably due to great horned owls also nesting in the ravine at the time.) Inwood used to be the first nest to hatch every year, and in 2016 it should be among the first. First egg is believed to have been laid here about March 11.

Highbridge Park-Swindler Cove:
There has been a hawk nest in one of the trees near the north end of Highbridge Park for at least a decade, although not always the same tree due to off-season storms damaging and even knocking down the nesting trees. But the nests have all been in the same general area. During 2013-2015 the nest was directly above the park path just south of the intersection of Harlem River Drive, Tenth Ave., and Dyckman St., and directly across HRD from Swindler Cove Park and PS5. Activity here in 2016 is not yet confirmed, although it's not clear whether it's because the hawks — dubbed George and Martha due to the proximity to George Washington High School — have moved on or because the nest is in a difficult spot to monitor.

Fort George — Fairview Ave.-Gorman Park:
In 2014 and 2015, there was a nest on a fire escape directly above Fairview Ave. and just north of Gorman Park and 190th St., and both years three baby hawks were raised here. The nest was removed sometime after the 2015 season, and the red-tails have not rebuilt there for 2016. However, a hawk was observed perched directly above the nest site in late March, so it seems that they could be nesting at a new location not far away, and the hawks moved downstairs, building a new nest a couple floors lower. The red-tail pair seem to be early nesters, as in 2015 they were apparently the second pair in Manhattan to have a hatch. The northwest part of the Gorman hawks' range includes Fort Tryon Park, and perhaps they have moved across Broadway to the larger park, and the adults can sometimes be spotted hunting in that area.

Washington Heights — J. Hood Wright Park:
Entering its fifth season, this fire escape nest site overlooks J. Hood Wright Park on Fort Washington Ave. For safety reasons, the nest has been removed each year after the baby hawks have fledged, but the adults keep returning and rebuilding. The first two years, the Wright Park hawks were late nesters. In 2014 they moved their schedule up and were one of the earliest, and in 2016 it was reported that the first egg had been laid by March 10.

Hamilton Heights — CCNY/Shepard Hall:
There has been a nest located on the shoulders of a gargoyle high up the east side of CCNY's Shepard Hall, overlooking St. Nicholas Terrace and St. Nicholas Park, since 2006 if not before. It's a tough nest to watch because of the height and the building being near the edge of the Hamilton Heights bluff. The best angles may be from way down below along St. Nicholas Ave. In any event, often one never hears whether baby hawks have hatched or fledged here. Thus, 2015 was the first time that some of us actually spotted nestlings in the Shepard Hall nest, and they were apparently the first Manhattan hatches of the year. The adult hawks here were once known as Nick and Nora, but I believe both male and female have died and been replaced since that time.

Morningside Heights — Grant's Tomb:
This is the second year for a hawk nest at Grant's Tomb, on Riverside Drive about a block above 122nd St. The nest is atop the light tower at the northeast corner of the monument retaining wall. But this was a problem site last year, and the problems could easily repeat in 2016. The one baby hawk known to have hatched in 2015 had to be rescued after fledging prematurely, apparently because its parents had gone missing. The hatch was somewhat late (mid May), and the baby hawk was still in the nest after the young peregrine falcons fledged from the scrape at nearby Riverside Church. At that point, the adult falcons amped up their claims to the territory and apparently harassed the adult hawks until they fled the area. In 2016, the female at the Grant's Tomb nest — by the way, there's no way to tell if she's the same female who was here last year — was brooding by March 19, which means that any baby hawks here should fledge before mid-June, before the baby falcons usually fledge. Whether that will alleviate the conflict with the falcons will have to be seen.

Morningside Heights — Riverside Park at 116th St.:
New in 2016 is a red-tailed hawk nest inside Riverside Park just north of the entrance at 116th St. and Riverside Drive. At first it was thought that this was a "replacement" for the 2015 Grant's Tomb nest, but much to hawkwatchers' amazement, the case is that two hawk nests are located within seven blocks of each other, and with a peregrine falcon scrape in between. The hawks at this new nest seem to be young, as at least one of them shows eye-coloring suggesting so and that this is probably its first nesting season. First egg at 116th St. was laid about March 11.

Morningside Heights — Cathedral of St. John the Divine:
Although there was a nesting attempt in 2000, hawks are only known for certain to have nested at "St. John the Unfinished" since 2006 (with apparently a one-year gap in 2009). Despite construction of a new apartment building just 50 yards from the nest site, they returned for another go-round in 2015 but did shift to a new location about 30 feet from the old. The current nest is at the east end of the cathedral in the turret above the big statue of St. Peter on the apse wall (look for the statue holding a set of keys), overlooking Morningside Drive and Morningside Park. The male hawk is believed to be Norman, who first arrived in 2008, while the female as of 2015 is Madeleine. Last year was not successful at the cathedral nest, with the first clutch of eggs failing, and the only baby known to have hatched in the re-try second clutch apparently dying shortly before it was old enough to fledge.

There used to be a red-tail nest on Randalls Island just outside Icahn Stadium, but the hawks abandoned the site before the 2014 nesting season. Probably this was because of harassment from the peregrine falcons who nest atop the psychiatric center to the south.

East Harlem — 96th St. at Fifth Ave.:
Although uppermost Fifth Avenue has been within the territory of the hawks at St. John the Divine, there have been signs the last few years of other hawks trying to claim the area. Stick collecting was noted on a fire escape on Third Ave. at East 100th St. in 2015. In mid-March this year came a report that hawks were trying to nest on an air conditioner around the corner from Mouth Sinai hospital, but their attempt there failed, an egg having been laid before the nest was ready for it. Then in early April it was confirmed that a female hawk was nesting on an air conditioner on East 96th St. just off of Fifth Ave.

Upper West Side — West End Ave. at 84th St.:
Red-tails have nested in the vicinity of Riverside Park and 79th St. since 2008, with the first pair of hawks preferring trees near the river close to the Boat Basin cafe. On inheriting the area in 2012, the current pair opted to nest inland and north, choosing a spot high up on a fire escape on the back side of a West End Ave. apartment building in the 80s. This nest has had a run of bad luck, with only one fledgling in 2014 and none in 2015. As of early April, activity has not yet been confirmed here for 2016. As of April 12, this nest has been reported active, with the female brooding eggs since the start of the month.

Upper East Side — Fifth Ave. at 74th St.:
Possibly the most famous hawk nest in the world, located on a high-end Fifth Ave. co-op apartment building overlooking the Central Park Boat Pond. After a few years of relatively rapid turnover in the resident female (a disappearance, a case of rat-poisoning, and who knows what else), things seems to have settled down. Of course the constant is that Palemale has ruled this area of Central Park for over 20 years. Since 2013, the female has been Octavia. After a long dry spell, there have been baby hawk hatches here each year since 2011. This year, Octavia laid her first egg about March 11.
+ For more about this nest, follow the PaleMale.com website and Urban Hawks blogs.

Upper West Side — Central Park West-The San Remo:
There is often a fair amount hawk activity along upper Central Park West in winter. Then in 2014 a new pair of adult red-tails were seen hanging around the Beresford apartments at 81st St., and they unsuccessfully tried to nest there in 2015. (They may have been the same duo who unsuccessfully tried to nest at 92nd St. in 2013.) As of the beginning of April, it looks like this pair of hawks — whom some people refer to as Fred and Ginger — decided to move a bit farther south. Hawkwatchers have watched them trying to nest on a ledge at the San Remo apartments between 74th and 75th streets.

Upper West Side — West End Ave at 72nd St.:
There has been word of a new red-tailed hawk nest on the back side of an apartment building at West End Ave. and West 72nd St. The site is on the inside of the block and so not visible from the street.

Central Park — Sheep Meadow:
After a couple years of adult red-tail activity around the Grand Army Plaza area at the southeast corner of Central Park, a pair of hawks built a nest in 2014 further north inside Central Park in a tree on the east side of the Sheep Meadow (roughly about the line of 68th St.). Despite all the human activity on the lawn below once the weather got warm, they successfully raised a couple sets of babies there. However, it seems that the nest was destroyed during a storm following the 2015 season. In 2016 the hawks flirted with some ledges on the Plaza Hotel and nearby buildings, but as of March 30 the word was that they were working on a nest back in the Sheep Meadow area.

Greenwich Village — NYU-Washington Square:
This downtown nest was first constructed in 2011 on a window ledge at NYU's Bobst Library, outside the university president's office and overlooking Washington Square Park. This site has vied with the Fifth Ave. nest for Manhattan's earliest hatch site. The male since the nest was first built has been Bobby, who was named after the Bobst library. There was a new female in 2015 whom was named Sadie, replacing Rosie who disappeared sometime late 2014. The first egg was confirmed in the nest on March 14, and it was reported at the start of April that three eggs were laid.
+ For more about this nest, follow the Urban Hawks and roger_paw blogs.

East Village — Tompkins Square Park:
Tompkins Square was for several years a reliable spot to find juvenile hawks during winter. In 2014 it finally received its own nesting pair of adults, who originally built on an air conditioner on the Christadora building at the corner of Avenue B and East 9th St. They shifted to another air-conditioner site at Avenue A and 3rd St. last year due to Christadora renovation. In 2016, Christo and Dora have moved back north and into the park itself, building their nest atop a tree just inside the park entrance at Avenue B and 8th St. The first egg was laid about March 15.
+ For more about this nest, follow the Goggin Photography blog.

Chinatown:
A pair of red-tailed hawks were busy preparing to nest in Chinatown near the Manhattan Bridge during March, but the female died at the end of the month at Collect Pond Park in the courthouse area from eating a poisoned rat. This pair of hawks had started a nest a billboard close to the bridge, but after human interference they were seen at points all over the neighborhood. The male continued to work on their second nest overlooking Collect Pond Park, and it is not impossible that he will find a new mate. As of April 11, the male has been reported to be accompanied by a new female. However, the second nest was wiped out by a storm at the start of April, so it's on to the third nest attempt. But the threat of secondary rat poisoning seems to be quite high in this neighborhood, and hawkwatchers remain very concerned about this location.
+ For more about this nest, follow the Goggin Photography blog.

Previous nest lists were posted in: 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2012.