4/28, Grant's Tomb

First sighting of a baby red-tailed hawk in the Grant's Tomb nest was apparently made this past Wednesday evening. On Friday evening, two nestlings were definitely spotted up there.

About 6:30, Mrs. Grant was finishing up a feeding. She remained perched on the side of the nest as I wandered around looking for better camera angles.

Finally I settled on a spot a block away but from which a minimum of tree branches and leaves block the view.

At 6:50, there was some activity in the nest. Even from a distance of 200 feet, I could tell without a long lens that there was someone small moving about just to the side of her. But a closer look at photos revealed there was a second fuzzy baby hawk head directly in front of Mrs. Grant.

Things quieted down again, but 15 minutes later, the babies were moving about again.

And it would seem that the babies are big enough, you can even catch a glimpse of a flapping baby wing as they move about.

4/22, Uptown Hawk Nests

Saturday afternoon I headed uptown to check on red-tailed hawk nests in the Washington Heights-Fort George Hill area. I hoped to find evidence of a hatch at one, and evidence of anything at two others. My luck was... mixed.

At J. Hood Wright Park, close to the George Washington Bridge, the hawks know what they're doing. This is their sixth season at that location, and since the third they have been reliably one of the earlier sites in Manhattan to see a hatch. It's apparently such a good site that their average nestling count over the prior five seasons is, if I remember correctly, 3.0. Keep in mind that the first season, they only had two babies.

In any event, the JHW nest looked empty when I first arrived, although it was possible the female was nestled toward the back of the nest where she can be hard to spot. I wandered around the park to a spot that is distant but has a good angle and from there saw the female standing on the edge of the nest (photo above).

By the time I walked across the park, she was nestled in the nest, keeping eggs and/or baby hawks dry and warm.

And there she stayed for the next half hour until I moved onward.

Fifteen blocks north, the Fairview Ave./Gorman Park hawk nest is on the back of an apartment building overlooking the valley between Fort George Hill and Fort Tryon Park. It's a hard spot to get a good look at the nest. The best angle is from Overlook Terrace, but that's more than 300 yards away. But with a half decent telephoto lens, I could see someone was in the nest.

Look closer. Mama is at home.

The Fairview Ave. nest was empty when I checked the area back on March 18, so it's possible there has not been a hatch there yet. But it was an early nest two years ago (when it was higher up the fire escape), so who knows.

Anyway, there are some other spots much closer to the Fairview Ave. nest where you can watch for activity, although the angle isn't the best. Like farther up Fairview.

But in a few weeks when there are baby hawks big enough to wander about the fire escape, it will be easier.

I finished the day on the other side of Fort George Hill, checking the area around the old Highbridge Park/Swindler Cove nest. It apparently went unused last year but I had found a possible alternative nest site in the area a few weeks ago. Also, I had seen a hawk in the area a couple times last month. Unfortunately, neither nest site was occupied on Saturday, nor were any hawks to be seen anywhere else nearby.

4/20, Grant's Tomb

It's likely to be a few more days before baby hawk(s) are big enough and strong enough for ground-bound watchers to spot them, but circumstantial evidence piles up that egg(s) have hatched at the Grant's Tomb red-tail nest. Neighborhood birdwatchers have reported multiple occasions of watching feeding behavior this week.

Thursday evening I found the nest apparently empty. Apparently Mrs Grant was out getting some exercise and perhaps removing some inedible trash, as another watcher reported she had been there minutes earlier. She returned minutes after I arrived. She perched on the railings above the nest, preening and looking around and occasionally peering down into the nest.

After 15 minutes of that, she hopped down and settled into the nest to keep the baby or babies warm.