3/31, Riverside at 102

Brooding at the red-tailed hawk nest in Riverside Park at 102nd St. has been in progress for four or five days now, as I saw the parents switch off egg-tending duty back on Wednesday. When visiting the area now, you're likely to see the female's tail feathers just poking up above the edge of the nest, and the male off doing his thing in the general area. But there are times like Saturday afternoon when the female will take a short break off the nest without the male showing up to fill in.

Sunday afternoon about 3:00 looked like it was going to be a boring one. The female's tail was just visible. But oh, hey someone is soaring way high above the area.

That's not the male. That's a bald eagle on its way toward Central Park.

The male, it turned out, was close by. He was perched way high on the scaffolding at the top of The Master apartment building, which just a few visits to the area has suggested is a preferred hangout.

3/25, Riverside at 102

A gorgeous afternoon to be a hawk or a human.

The female hawk was hanging out in the new Riverside Park nest when I swung by around 2:30, just chilling and watching the skies. No fussing about with the nest layout.

She took off, disappeared for a while, then re-appeared in a treetop near 103rd St. Perched there for a bit, then flew down to a tree across the street from the nest.

No sign of the male during my brief visit.

3/24, Riverside at 102

Much to my surprise, it seems I have new neighbors. I learned last night of a new red-tailed hawk nest in Riverside Park at West 102nd St., a location I could walk to in maybe 5 minutes if there wasn't a fence in the way.

But sure enough, checking the spot on Sunday afternoon, there was a large nest high up a tree right over the main walkway alongside Riverside Drive. Once I found a good spot across the road to see what might be in the nest, someone within sat up and looked back.

Moments later, there were two hawks up there, as the male flew in with a new stick to add to the decor.

But within 30 seconds both hawks took off to the north. The female perched in the branches of a tree a block away.

The male had disappeared down into the park, but soon returned and landed in a tree not far from me.

It looked like he might have more twig or stick collecting in mind.

Indeed.

But he gave up on that effort and took off. Shortly after it seemed he might be chasing off a crow to the south. Good luck with that, as I could see that the crow had two teammates in the area.

Meanwhile the female returned to the nest.

Where she fussed about and kept checking the sky and nearby buildings, but eventually settled down.