3/11, Brooding in Highbridge

The Highbridge Park red-tailed hawk nest near Dyckman St. has over the last few years usually been one of the first two nests in Manhattan for egg-laying and hatching. I'd seen Martha fussing about in the nest a week ago, and late Sunday afternoon I headed up there to see if she might now be on eggs. The evidence of it was pretty convincing.

Just a few minutes after I arrived, George flew in. Another couple minutes later, Martha flew off to a treetop 70 or 80 yards away and a had a short meal, leaving George back hunkered down in the nest. Then she switched around the treetops a bit, went for a quick flight up to the three-way intersection of Dyckman, Tenth Ave., and Harlem River Dr., flew back and settled down on a high branch for a solid half hour of preening.

Finally she returned to the nest and after a long confab with George — both were low in the nest and I could barely see either of them for three or four minutes — George departed, his job of egg tending done for the day. He perched across Harlem River Dr. for a bit, apparently watching something he didn't like atop Fort George Hill, before taking off and flying somewhere across the river in the Bronx.

3/9, Almost Spring

Spring is just about here, and the city hawks are going to their nests. On Friday, after a futile week, I finally caught one of the cathedral red-tails in action, circling over Douglass Ave. in southern Harlem.

But then a happy day turned into a very sad day. The last year has not been good for Manhattan red-tails, but somehow in the past three weeks, three adult females have died.

Update: One other adult red-tail and a youngster have also died recently.

1/16, First Hawk of the Year

Not much to speak of, but here's the first hawk photo that I took in 2012.

As some of you may recognize, this is the chimney atop the Cardinal Cooke medical building, across Fifth Ave. from Central Park's Conservatory Garden. The chimney has been a favorite perch for the hawks at the north end of Central Park for years. In late afternoon it seems to be a good spot for checking out what the pigeons are up to on Madison Ave.

I expect this was the same hawk I saw about 20 minutes earlier, soaring over the Great Hill of Central Park and causing area blue jays to start jeering. That hawk floated eastward and the last I saw of it was over the Harlem Meer. One thing hawks can do is float a half mile in a minute.