4/7, Pre-Easter Hawkwatching

After a long walk around Van Cortlandt Park without seeing much more than a lot of robins and geese, I returned to Manhattan before 6:00 and opted to check in at the Highbridge Park nest. There was no sign of the male red-tailed hawk on the antennas at the Isabella or anywhere nearby, but the female was sitting quietly in the nest.

It was good to see that she'd made it through the cold rain earlier in the week, and the snow flurries too.

Although she may have been looking me over (why's he standing there? what's that thing he holds up and points my way?) it seemed far more likely she was keeping an eye on the flock of eight crows who were hanging around along Amsterdam Ave. I hung about the area for about ten minutes. All remained quiet.

Finally I began walking south, first along the park path and then along Amsterdam, hoping to catch sight of the male in the air. No such luck. Finally at 161st St. I caught the subway south.

Entered Morningside Park at the north end at about 7:00. It was late enough that perhaps I'd catch Tristan going to roost. Nope, and no sign of the turkey about either. But after reaching Morningside Drive and 113th St., I belatedly discovered Tristan perched in a tree on the little hill at 114th St. A minute later as I maneuvered for a position with a good camera angle I turned my back on him for just a moment and he took the opportunity to quietly disappear, presumably headed in the direction of his "favorite" roosting spot.

4/5, Isolde's Dinner Break

Still checking in on the Cathedral red-tailed hawks in midweek as we wait until egg-hatching time. Not every day, but still.

Tuesday
Reached the Cathedral around 6:20. No hawks initially in sight, but Tristan quietly appeared on Gabriel's horn about five minutes later. He seems in no mood to go anywhere else and is still there when I leave five-ten minutes later. No camera, so no pictures.

Thursday
Initially no hawks in sight when I arrive after 5:40, but just before 5:50 a hawk flies across Morningside Park toward the nest, swerves right and perches on the corner of the roof at St. Luke's hospital.

The episode was too quick to be a switch-off at the nest. At first I thought it was a fly-by visit by Tristan.

I watched the hawk shift up to the other corner of the hospital, then flap around atop an air conditioner, and then disappear back into the park. But 15 minutes later after seemingly no more activity, I belatedly found the hawk perched high over the dog run. It looked so big that at first I thought it was the turkey. But no, turkeys don't eat pigeons. A closer look reveals it's not Tristan but Isolde.

Soon she's wiping her beak off on the tree branch, apparently getting ready to leave. Sure enough, a minute later she drops off the branch and flies southeast to perch atop the water tower at 113th and Manhattan Ave.

And after a couple minutes there, she takes off south and perches atop one of the TV antennas at 301 West 110th St. There she catches a bit of sun, perhaps airs her tail out in the breeze.

And just after 6:15 she flies back to the nest.

C'mon Tristan, wake up. I'm back. Watch out, though, that guy with the camera is around again.

Whoosh, and away Tristan goes, somewhere to the northeast.

And that concludes Thursday's early evening switch-off.

4/1, Highbridge and Inwood Nests

After just a glimpse of Tristan in Morningside Park early Friday evening, and a Saturday at home still trying to shake a cold, I opted to go north on Sunday. Bruce posted pix on Friday of the Highbridge red-tailed hawk nest, complete with brooding female, and so that was my first goal.

I reached the 190s section of Amsterdam Ave. before 4:00 and ended up spending 20 minutes or so re-locating the nest. Searching from above wasn't working and it wasn't until I walked down into the park that I realized that the problem was that the nest was a block north of where I had previously estimated its position. No sign from below, though, that the nest was occupied, but at 4:10 on walking back up to the upper level of the park I was cheered to see a hawk hovering in the air overhead. A half minute later he dropped down to perch on one of the many antenna structures gracing the top of the north wing of the Isabella senior center at the corner of Audubon Ave. and 191st St.

A minute later he was back in the air and flew out over the park. Hmmm, somebody's got a few chewed up feathers. Should be easy to identify this guy in the future from his R6 tail feather.

I lost him in the trees, but he re-appeared atop the Isabella within another five to ten minutes. Round about then I also finally got a look at the nest from above. It can be tough to spot because of intervening twigs and branches; if your lenses are not quite focused at the right distance, you can slide right by it. It will be impossible to see once the trees start sprouting leaves. But for the moment, you can still see the Higbridge mama.

Aside from the male going for another soar and then returning to perch amongst the Isabella antennas, not much went on for the next 15 minutes. And then it started to drizzle a little.

By 4:40 I was on my way back to the subway station, but I opted to go further north and see if I could also check off a viewing of the Inwood Hill Park nest. happily, it wasn't raining when I got up to 215th St.

The Inwood nest was fairly easy to spot from below, but it took another 15 minutes of hiking to the top of the hill and then scrounging around for a spot with a halfway unobstructed view. But about 5:30 I finally was in place. Just the female in sight, hunkered down in the nest.

I hung out about the area for another 20-25 minutes, but again it started to drizzle a little and I did need to meet someone to watch the baseball game later. Still no sign of the Inwood red-tail male when I left.