Manhattan 2015 Nest Checklist Update 3

It's almost July, and Manhattan's baby red-tailed hawks have been fledging from their nests and causing chaos on the local rooftops and in the neighborhood parks.

Following is a list of the twelve nests that were brooding eggs in mid-April. It looks like eleven have had hatches, with one of them on the second try of the season. A total of 24 baby hawks have been observed, although that will go up once we get a look at the nestlings in nest eleven.

As of this writing, it looks like nine of the ten nests on the "normal" schedule have fledged all their babies. The tenth had just one baby, which died before fledging.

Background about the twelve nests can be read here. Previous updates appeared here and here.

	Location	Hatched	Fledged	Notes
1.	East Village/Ageloff Towers	3	3	First hatch about May 1. Two nestlings fledged June 20, third June 23.
2.	NYU/Washington Square	2	2	Both eggs hatched by April 27. Fledged June 14 and 15.
3.	Central Park Sheep Meadow	3	3	First hatch before May 9. First fledge June 23.
4.	Fifth Ave. at 74th St.	3	3	First hatch about April 26. Two fledged June 13, third June 16.
5.	CPW/Beresford Apts.	No	--	Failed.
6.	West End Ave./80s	1	0	One baby. Died about June 10 before fledging.
7.	St. John the Divine	Yes	--	First try failed. Second clutch hatched mid/late June; nestlings not yet observed.
8.	CCNY Shepard Hall	2	2?	Hatch about April 18-20. Nest empty June 7; both nestlings presumably fledged.
9.	Wright Park/Ft. Washington Ave.	3	3	Hatch about May 1-5. First fledge June 21/22; last about June 26.
10.	Gorman Park/Fairview Ave.	3	3	Hatch about April 22-24. All nestlings fledged between June 7 and 14.
11.	Highbridge Park/Swindler Cove	2	2?	Hatch date unknown. Nest empty June 27; both nestlings presumably fledged.
12.	Inwood Hill Park	2	2	Hatch date unknown. Both nestlings reported fledged as of June 14.

In addition to the above nesting sites, there might have been 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.

6/28, St. John the Divine

On a gray Sunday afternoon, Madeleine the cathedral red-tailed hawk was again visible in her nest, watching the neighborhood, preening, and finally, feeding what seems to be more than one small nestling.

At 4:30, she was perched with her back to the nest contents, looking out over Morningside Park.

Not long later she turned around to give a little attention to the nest interior.

But although she fussed briefly inside the nest, she spent most of the next 20-25 minutes preening. Sometimes she looked back over a shoulder.

Meanwhile I cast about to see if there were any other spots along Morningside Drive where there might be a good vantage.

Round about 5:00 I found an okay spot right at the intersection of 113th St. that I had previously missed.

From that spot it seemed that I could see Madeleine checking at least two spots in the nest, suggesting two or three babies up there.

Moments later, Madeleine was bent over the nest and for the next 15 minutes, all I saw of her was a feathery posterior. The 5:00 feeding was in progress.

Addendum: The Urban Hawks blog has video of the feeding.

6/27, J. Hood Wright Park

Saturday afternoon as the rain began to fall, I checked on the J. Hood Wright Park red-tailed hawk nest. The first of the three babies there fledged last Sunday and a second might have also. There was a possibility that one was still in the nest, but I found it empty.

Only one of the fledglings was out where he could be spotted, perched on a fire escape overlooking the park's basketball courts.

It was apparent he'd been fed sometime recently.

So he had nothing to do except perch in the rain and watch the neighborhood.

And try to void being frightened by that curtain flapping in a wide-open window nearby.

Stare at something on the ground a little more.

And then as the rain got heavier, time to vacate. Good idea.