3/2, Two and Far Between

Sometime you don't have to look for hawks. Instead, they find you.

I had barely stepped out of my apartment building Saturday afternoon and walked to the corner of Broadway before I realized there was hawk perched on a rooftop just a half block away.

A juvenile red-tail, apparently digesting a meal. He was the fifth hawk I've spotted while walking along Broadway between 100th and 110th in the past month and a half.

But such easy luck did not hold. A stroll over to and around the north end of Central Park seemed fruitless. It wasn't until sunset approached and I was working my way out of the park that I spotted another hawk, perched far away atop the Cardinal Cooke health center on Fifth Ave.

2/22, Isolde in Winter

Catching sight of the St. John's cathedral hawks during winter has never been a simple thing as they have a sizable territory and don't hang around the nest area much. And with Norman apparently killed during the hurricane and a possible new male in the area, who knows what might be up. But late on a gloomy Friday afternoon, I got my first good look at Isolde in months.

She was perched 15 floors up on the roof of the condos at 1MSD, her back to the cathedral and generally keeping an eye on things to the south and west. Ten quiet minutes later, she stood up, leaped, and flew off west along 111th St.

Five minutes later I found her circling about over the intersection of Broadway and 110th. She didn't seem to be hunting the many area pigeons, and I suspect she was doing a see-and-be-seen to let someone in Riverside Park know who the territory belonged to. A minute or two later she turned east and headed back toward the cathedral.

2/18, Riverside Juvenile RT

Monday afternoon found a juvenile red-tailed in the treetops of Riverside Park, near the upper wall at 109th St. He looked very sedate, calmly digesting a meal in the afternoon sun.

Possibly it was the same young bird I'd gotten quick glimpses of in the area, either along Riverside or over on Broadway, during the past month.

Ten minutes after I first spotted him, the youngster shifted to a tree about 50 feet south.

The action here was looking dull, so I wandered north a few blocks to see if any other red-tails might be about. No luck. Returning to 109th St., I arrived just in time to see the young bird take to the air.

Possibly he was making an attack at a squirrel in a nearby tree, but if so, no dice. He turned around and disappeared down the hill into the trees around the skate park.