5/23, Baby Hawks in Four Uptown Nests

Saturday afternoon I checked on four of the upper Manhattan red-tailed hawk nests and saw nestlings in each one. In a most pleasant surprise, I found one at the CCNY nest, which may be the first time I've ever actually seen a baby hawk at that location after years of looking.

The afternoon began with the Highbridge Park nest near Dyckman St. Martha was perched on the west side of the nest, where she could provide some shade to the babies within while she preened. From a viewpoint along the mountain bike trail, I was able to see one baby hawk through the nest twigs.

Looking closer, I could see that it was looking back.

But in that first photo, note how although the baby hawk is on one side of the nest, Martha appears to be fussing about on the other side. Indeed, there was a second baby hawk just barely visible on that side.

As I made my exit, Martha threw me some shade.

Up and over Fort George Hill and down into the Dyckman Valley area, I found the Gorman Park mama hawk perched at the very top of the fire escape above the nest, with all three of the baby hawks active one flight below.

You can see their wing feathers are growing in nicely, but their head feathers haven't really begun to show yet. They look to be about a month old and not ready to fledge for maybe another two weeks.

Time for some flapping.

Everybody look up at mama.

And one last look back at the Gorman Park nest as I made my way south along Broadway.

Up in Washington Heights proper, I reached the J. Hood Wright Park red-tail nest. There two of the babies were sitting high, while mama was doing something toward the back of the nest. Maybe feeding a third nestling, or perhaps herself.

Mama would fuss about, and then turn around. I kept wondering if she was going to fly out of the nest.

But she was staying put, even when one of the nestlings flapped his wings in her face.

Just keeping an eye on things.

Over there, too.

One baby stood up, where we could get a better look at each other.

And mama gave me a couple looks, too.

Although last weekend's visit suggest to the JHW Park nest suggested there were three babies up there, I wasn't able to get a clear look Saturday to confirm that there really are three. A couple pictures suggested that the third might be toward the back, but the mother was generally blocking the view of that part of the nest.

Onward and southward to check on one more nest before the shadows got too dark. Coming down St. Nick Ave. toward 141st St., I could see a hawk was sitting up in the nest at Shepard Hall at CCNY. It was big and brown and I initially assumed it was one of the adults.

But no, it was a baby hawk preening. Wing feathers thick and dark, a nice belly band, and the tawny breast typical of a young NYC red-tail. Its head was brown but a little light, showing that the head feathers haven't quite grown in yet.

Nevertheless, it was apparent that this baby hawk was older than the Gorman Park nestlings, which I had assumed were the first to hatch in Manhattan this year. The CCNY baby hawk looks like it could be more than five weeks old, which means that fledging time might be as soon as the end of this coming week.

My timing at CCNY had been lucky. A couple minutes after I first reached 142st St., the visible baby hawk laid down, and from along St. Nick Ave. it looked like the nest was empty.

5/10, Mother's Day Uptown

Sunday afternoon I checked on several red-tailed hawk nests in upper Manhattan. At three of them, I either saw nestlings or else sign that there were nestlings.

First up was the fire escape nest by J. Hood Wright Park in Washington Heights. There I apparently just missed a feeding as I found the mother perched on a nearby window railing.

Catching up on her preening.

Watching the park.

And the sidewalk below.

About 35 or 40 minutes later, as the clouds were clearing, she popped back into the nest to check on things.

She fussed around a bit and could be looking at a couple different spots in the nest. Apparently the babies were snoozing away, as she settled down beside them.

Farther north, we already knew the Gorman Park nest overlooking Fairview Ave. had seen its three eggs hatch, and probably two weeks earlier. There I could see little heads poking up, sometimes sitting up and looking around.

And not just sitting up, but standing up and flapping and stretching. A close look even revealed pin feathers.

Meanwhile, the Gorman Park parents were perched together across the valley on top of an apartment building on Ft. Washington Ave.

Walking around Fort George Hill from the west side to the north east, I came to the Highbridge Park nest near Dyckman St. and Tenth Ave. I might have arrived at the end of a feeding, as I could see a parent leaning into the nest and fussing about. In fact both parents were there, although the foliage is thick enough that I didn't realize the second was there until the male flew off.

The feeding apparently over, the mother remained perched on the side of the nest, checking the babie(s) within.

At one spot I could just pick out a fuzzy baby hawk head visible through a gap in the nest twigs. Possibly the mother was also eying another spot, so there may well be two nestlings up there.

3/21, Gorman Park & Highbridge/Swindler Cove

Again a Saturday checking on some red-tailed hawk nests in upper Manhattan.

Viewing the Gorman Park nest at 190th St. from over 300 yards away across the valley near the Fort Tryon subway stop, I could just barely see a hawk head poking up from the nest.

So it looks like the Gorman Park nest has joined the Washington Square Park nest as one of the first of the Manhattan nests to have a hawk mama brooding egg(s).

A half hour later over in Highbridge Park by Swindler Cove, the nest looked empty. Moments later a hawk landed in a treetop across Harlem River Drive in Swindler Cove Park. Initially I thought it was George, but as events would show, it was Martha.

Martha played scarum with a squirrel in the treetop for about five minutes, where the squirrel would try to sneak up below her and then she tried to pounce. But after they both tired of that, Martha flew across the road and landed in the nest tree. She looked around for a few minutes.

And then George flew in from somewhere to the northwest.

Oh, he's not planning to perch alongside her.

Hawk sex ensued.

The "tree shaker" lasted a bit longer than I am used to see this sort of thing take.

Finally it was over, and both hawks spent a few moments adjusting feathers.

And right about the time I decided I needed to leave, both hawks took off, flying east and across the Harlem River.

3/14, Highbridge Park/Swindler Cove

In a couple visits earlier this year, I wondered if the red-tailed hawks at the north end of Highbridge Park were working on a new nest about a 100 feet away from the one they'd used the past two years. Checking there the end of Saturday afternoon, it instead looked much more likely that they'll be continuing with the existing nest.

The male, George, flew in almost at the same time as I walked up. He landed on a tall stump a bit up the hillside.

Ah, and he has food.

But the food wasn't for him. George began calling for the female, Martha.

But she apparently wasn't within earshot. George kept calling, and flew around to several other spots in the nest area, looking for Martha.

After twenty minutes be apparently decided that he'd earned some of the rat for himself and had a few bites, carried the rat up to the nest, and had a few more butes.

He left the rat in the nest and flew around to a couple more perches in the area, scanning the skies. After close to a half hour, he apparently gave up and flew away. But on my own way out, I found him perched just down the street atop the nearest of the Dyckman Houses, preening and watching the nest area.

3/7, Gorman Park & Highbridge/Swindler Cove

As we move deeper into March, checking on red-tailed hawk nest sites is more often resulting in hawk sightings. It's only 2-4 weeks before egg-laying time and the hawks are sticking closer to "home".

Saturday afternoon I took one of my long Uptown walks. Shortly after exiting the 1 train subway entrance at Broadway and 190th St., near the Gorman Park nest, I looked up the hillside to the west and saw a hawk perched on the apartment building on Ft. Washington Ave. near the A train station. Even as I was getting my camera out, the male of the pair flew up and they mated, then perched together for a minute.

The female then took off into Fort Tryon Park, and I also moved on.

Some time later I entered Highbridge Park close to the red-tail nest across from Swindler Cove. Immediately, Highbridge George flew in and landed in the tree directly overhead.

He looked around for a few minutes.

And then took off, circled around four or five times and sailed over the hill and out of sight.

A bit later, I passed by the nest site at J. Hood Wright Park. Very briefly a hawk was visible to the southwest atop one of the dorms on Haven Ave. but it quickly departed.

2/7, Dyckman St. & 182nd St.

Saturday afternoon I headed uptown to see if any of the resident adult hawks might be found near their nesting sites.

First stop was the Highbridge Park nest, across Harlem River Drive from Swindler Cove. No immediate sign of hawks in the area, but just as I was making a move to leave, a pair of them came sailing overhead and into the Dyckman Houses.

A few minutes later I found Highbridge George perched atop one chimney cover.

But he quickly got up and flew back south, where he joined Martha atop the building at the corner of Dyckman and Tenth Ave.

That's George at left and Martha at right. In addition to the size difference, you can figure out which one is George because he has a darker breast than most Manhattan hawks.

They perched together for fifteen minutes. But when it looked like Martha was settling in for a good preen, George made his exit.

I did likewise, heading southwest. Heading down Broadway and crossing 190th St., I looked around for hawks. No sign of them, but I could see that the Gorman Park nest was still in place.

Continuing south, I realized that there was something not quite right about a cellular antenna at the corner of 182nd St. Looks like I found one of the Gorman Park hawks.

Whoever it was enjoying the sunlight finally breaking through the clouds at the end of the day, and digesting a good meal.

Meanwhile watching the traffic go by on Broadway below.

And eying the pigeons lined up along the edge of a nearby rooftop.