The W0302 nest is brooding. It might have been brooding for longer than I thought. From the West Drive, the female can be completely hidden while sitting on the nest, so I may have missed her earlier. The male is continuing to bring nesting material, both sticks and lining material.
I’ve been hearing lots of reports of the relocated 1115 Fifth Avenue nest near the West Drive in Central Park, where people say they see the female on the nest. I’ve gone a few times and haven’t been able to see her until today. I hope they can second clutch and be successful this year.
Today, I got to the 1115 Fifth Avenue nest a bit after noon to find the workman on a rig near the nest, but the brooding female calmly sitting on the nest. I had been concerned about how she would react to the rig being near the nest when I saw them move the supports closer to the nest on Wednesday.
Given that things seemed to be fine, and fog was making it hard to see the 1115 Fifth Avenue nest, I looked at other nests. The 350 Central Park West nest is empty, and I also checked on the St. John the Divine nest, which was also empty, although I did see a hawk on the Telephone Co. Building. I then made a trip down to Washington Square Park, and found the new female in the nest but not yet sitting on eggs. I will detail what I saw in a separate post.
I then returned to the 1115 Fifth Avenue nest in the late afternoon and a group of us came to understand that the 1115 Fifth Avenue pair was the 350 Central Park West pair. The female has the same deformed tail. But more interestingly, the male was perched on the building at the southwest corner of 96th and Central Park West, which has a perfect view of the new nest. At dusk, he flew over and gave the female a ten minute break. This explained why we had been seeing him so often near the old nest. It’s only three blocks away from the new nest, and they’re maintaining the territory. Riddle solved.
I went up to the northeast entrance of the Reservoir to get a good look at the newly discovered 1115 Fifth Avenue nest. It’s clear that this is going to be a difficult situation. The pair is clearly sitting on eggs and the façade work is getting closer to the nest. It will be interesting to see how the hawks react to the rig getting even closer to the nest on Thursday.
Stella Hamilton let me know of a new Red-tailed Hawk nest this afternoon. It is at 1115 Fifth Avenue, which is just south of 93rd Street. The news is bittersweet, as she discovered the nest because the hawk pair was calling in distress, as workers lowered a rig down the side of the façade.
These situations have not worked out well in past years. We’ll have to wait and see what happens. Hopefully, the building contacts the NYS DEC for advice on how to handle the situation.
I’ve been hoping to see signs that the 350 Central Park West has hatched over the last week. I made three visits, but came up empty each time. I thought they should have hatched my now and I would have seen a feeding by now, but I’m a bit confused about when brooding started.