The Astoria/Triborough Bridge nest has at least two chicks in its new location on the other side of the bridge.  (Thanks, Jules Corkery for the update.)  I didn’t get great pictures this evening but wanted to share them never the less.

The Astoria female was very ill this fall and was nursed back to health under the care of Bobby Hovarth.  With all of the bad news, it’s important to remember that there are still lots of positive stories and successes in New York City.

Update 5/15/08: Also on the good news front Peregrine Falcons are doing well this season.  55 Water St. has a scrape with four nestlings which can be viewed on a webcam, and at least two birds have fledged on the Met Life building.

Over last few weeks in the early evening, a young Red-tailed hawk has been hunting rodents at the waterfall near Glen Span Arch.  The hawk was there on Saturday, but an older woman feeding raccoons spoiled its rodent hunting.

It looks like I’ll have to go back in the morning.  I went Saturday and Sunday afternoons and the action was quiet.  James O’Brien got some great shots this morning, so I guess I’ll have to get up early on Saturday.

Thanks to a report from Bill Amstutz, the eighth Manhattan Red-tailed Hawk nest has been found on Shepard Hall, up at City College.

James O’Brien confirmed the location of the nest today and has pictures on his blog.

Of the eight known nests in Manhattan, here’s what I know…

• 888 Seventh Avenue, Lots of mating and twigging.
• 5th Avenue, Looks good and keep your fingers crossed that the recent repairs corrected the problems with the nest.
• St. John the Divine, New mate and Cathedral construction may cause problems.
• Highbridge Park, Hawks sighted in area but old nest looks abandoned. There may be a new nest nearby.
• Inwood Hill Park, New nest in older spot.  Looks great.
• South Riverside Park, New nest with young parents.  Mixed chances but they seem to be doing well for beginners.
• Houston Street, Nest just beginning to be worked on.  Time will tell.
• Shepard Hall, City College, New nest.  Who knows.

In addition to these nests, there are rumors of three possible nest sites, two between the Southern Riverside Park nest and Inwood Hill Park nest along the Hudson, and one around 14th Street and the East River.  I hope we find them.

To a wonderful spring!

On New Year’s Day, I got to watch a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk eat a squirrel just east of Bethesda Fountain.  These photos are not for the squeamish.  Skip to another post, if you’d rather not see these images.

The squirrel was quite large and the Red-tail had a hard time flying with it and keeping it balanced.