I ran all around New York City on Sunday.  Although spring hasn’t officially arrived, the city’s hawks are quite busy.

First stop was 888 Seventh Avenue.  I saw both CPS Red-tailed hawks flying around 888 Seventh, but they both went past it.  I found them on 1740 Broadway.  It’s great to see them being so urban, but watching them this season is going to be tough.

Then it was off to the Cathedral Church of St. John to see how the Red-tailed Hawk pair was doing up north.  The female of the pair was checking out the nest, which looks nicely refurbished.

I went back to the nest later in the afternoon and saw the male of the pair soaring over Morningside Park.

The female Red-tail left the nest and went in the direction of the projects at 103rd, so I walked down to see if she was on the Fredrick Douglas Houses.  No luck finder her, but since the Monk Parakeets were in the neighborhood, I walked west. 

The Monk Parakeet pair was busy ripping the nest apart.  James O’Brien, who had joined me for part of the afternoon, thought it was spring cleaning, since many of the sticks lying on 103rd were full of feathers and poop.  I got a note from Rebekah Creshkoff who reports seeing a third Parakeet near the nest an hour earlier.  So, it might be possible that a second couple is moving in.  Another early spring mystery.

After lunch, I went to see the Red-headed Woodpecker at Morningside Drive and 92nd Street.  While I was there, two Red-tailed Hawks flew overhead.

Pale Male was on a 5th Avenue railing,  He made a swift dive after a pigeon, failed to catch it, and went over to his favorite security camera on the Met.

Next I went to see our 86th Street winter guest, who will either leave soon or stake out this area of the park for the summer.

I was going to leave the park, but Jean Dean ran into me and encouraged me to stay and watch the lunar eclipse.