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.

2/6, Riverside Park

I've continued to alter my usual route to work by walking up Riverside Drive to see if the juvenile red-tailed hawk was still around. Or one of them, as I've been told that a couple weeks ago there were two in the area. Early Friday afternoon I again encountered a hawk right around 110th St.

He first appeared making a swoop after a squirrel in a treetop near 108th St., but that failed and he headed back up to 110th, where he perched in the strip between the main part of RSD and the access road.

And then launch...

And swoop down a block...

Where he tried to nail a squirrel in the snow and ice alongside the parked cars. That failed and he headed up into a nearby tree, giving a near miss to one car speeding by. (Whew!)

Look around and think about it.

Repeat.

Repeat some more.

Working up some interest in another attack.

Yes, that squirrel is apparently peeking out from under a parked car.

Another swoop down at that squirrel, but another miss. The hawk sailed on and back into the tree where he'd been 6-7 minutes earlier.

Stare at that dratted squirrel.

And ponder.

ANd time for me to leave.

2/1, Turtle Pond & 72nd St. Transverse

A long walk on Saturday through three parks found no hawks, so on Sunday I headed for the lower half of Central Park, where multiple juvenile red-tails have supposedly been busy. Sure enough, they were there.

First found was a young hawk hunting around the Delacorte Theater and Turtle Pond, spotted when he zoomed low across the pond and up into the solo tree on the north bank.

He spent 10-12 minutes there, ogling the ground below for mice and giving the photographer the occasional dirty look.

After flying back to a tree overlooking the theater, he was last seen diving down in the trees with a group of blue jays jeering him on his way.

Next to be found was another juvie red-tail hunting along the park's 72nd St. Transverse. On his first view, he was flying up into a tree near the Bandshell and the Bethesda Terrace.

But he wasn't idle, exiting the tree a couple minutes later, diving down toward the Dead Road and out of sight. Sighting over the next half hour had him working the area to the west, around Cherry Hill. When last seen he was flying past the Falconer statue.

Sunset was approaching and it was time to call it a day. But one last hawk was waiting to be found. High up a tree along the west end of the Lake near the 78th St. entrance, another young red-tail was digesting dinner.

Possibly that last bird was the same as the first one who had been hunting just a half mile north.