Manhattan 2015 Nest Checklist Update 2

It's the first of June, and closing in on when Manhattan's baby red-tailed hawks will soon fledge from their nests. In fact, the first fledge will happen any day, as one nest has a pair of baby hawks who look old enough to make the big jump. That's at CCNY's Shepard Hall, where two nestlings apparently hatched around the weekend of April 18. They were still in the nest on Sunday, May 31, toughing out the rain.

Following is a list of the twelve known nests that were brooding eggs in mid-April. So far, it looks like nine have hatches, with 22 babies so far spotted; two nests seem to have failed; and the status of one nest is not yet reported. The hawks at one of the failures might be giving it a second try.

Background about the twelve nests can be read here.

	Location	Hatched?	Babies	Notes
1.	East Village/Ageloff Towers	Yes	3	First hatch about May 1.
2.	NYU/Washington Square	Yes	2	Both eggs hatched by April 27.
3.	Central Park Sheep Meadow	Yes	3	First hatch before May 9.
4.	Fifth Ave. at 74th St.	Yes	3	First hatch about April 26.
5.	CPW/Beresford Apts.	No		Failed?
6.	West End Ave./80s	Yes	≥1	Hatch date unknown. Feeding observed May 17.
7.	St. John the Divine	No		Failed? May be brooding a second clutch.
8.	CCNY Shepard Hall	Yes	2	Hatch date unknown. Probably about April 18-20.
9.	Wright Park/Ft. Washington Ave.	Yes	3	Hatch date unknown. Probably about May 1-5.
10.	Gorman Park/Fairview Ave.	Yes	3	Hatch date unknown. Probably about April 22-24.
11.	Highbridge Park/Swindler Cove	Yes	2	Hatch date unknown.
12.	Inwood Hill Park	???		No reports yet.

In addition to the above nesting sites, there could be a couple others in Manhattan this year. Most credibly, hawks were reported in early May to be collecting sticks on a fire escape on Third Ave. in Spanish Harlem.

5/31, J. Hood Wright Park

I checked on the Washington Heights red-tailed hawk nest Sunday afternoon just as the rain started to come down. One baby hawk was up and looking around, but another who was lying down in the corner was looking back.

Now, were there two or three up there. It turned out that the baby hawk was lying down was in a pile with the third sibling. A few minutes later all three were standing up, with sibling three flapping.

Check the other side to see if the view there is any better.

Just a bit, but the rain is getting worse.

And time to vacate.

From the look of them, with wing and tail feathers looking half grown-in and heads still grayish-white, the three J. Hood Wright baby hawks appear to have another two weeks before the first is ready to fledge from the nest.

5/28, St. John the Divine

It's been very quiet around the cathedral hawk nest the last few weeks, but it seems there is still something going on up there. Thursday evening about 6:30 I spotted Madeleine in the nest, her head poking up as she looked around.

Possibly she was already in there and had sat up to ease the boredom, or perhaps she had flown in during the two minutes I had been changing viewing spots.

In any event, she sat like that for 7-8 minutes.

And then she settled down out of view.