Riverside In The Wind
I had forgotten how windy it could get on the bank of the Hudson River. The sitting female took it in stride. The nest looks like she just fits by herself. How will it hold everyone in the weeks to come?
Category: Riverside Park Red-tailed Hawks
Hawk Watch At Riverside
If the nest failures on Fifth Avenue over the last few years have you down, hop on the M79 Bus at 79th and Fifth and take the bus crosstown to the last stop at 79th and Riverside. From there it is a short walk to the nest. The pair should have eyasses (babies) around May 1st plus or minus 5 days.
If you get off the bus at 79th and Riverside, cross Riverside and walk along the dirt path, being careful as you cross the on ramp and off ramp of the highway. Then walk under the overpass, and take the stairs down to the Boat Basin Café. If you keep making right turns you’ll pass the bar, take a small set of stairs and then a long set of stairs. Once you get to the bottom keep going straight (north) about two blocks and you’ll be at the nest. For better views, climb up to the exit ramp and look back. The river cools things down, so dress as though it’s 10-15 degrees cooler than the city.
Update 4-30-09: The Boat Basin Café is very busy on the weekends and can be frustrating to navigate through. As an alternative, you can enter the park at 83rd Street, and wind your way west to the 84th Street underpass, cross under the highway and walk south to the nest.
Riverside After The Rain on Saturday
I visited the Riverside Park nest on Saturday afternoon after the weather had cleared. The female was on the nest and was visited by the male once while I was there. Although, he visited, she stayed on the nest.
Riverside Nest
After all of the bad weather, the female at Riverside seemed be enjoying the calm after the storm on Wednesday evening. (The video is a little shaky due to the car traffic vibrating the tripod.)
Manhattan Nests
From north to south, we have the following confirmed nesting sites in Manhattan this year: Inwood Hill Park, Highbridge Park (back to the old location, which should be safer than last year’s location), Lower Riverside Park (also in a new and safer location), Fifth Avenue and 888 Seventh Avenue. I visited all of them this weekend. They all seem to be in good shape, with chicks expected within the next few weeks.
Some nests have changed from last year.
There is no sign of a nest below 14th Street, although there have been reports of hawks downtown all winter, including Tompkins Square Park, the World Trade Center construction site, the Court Houses around Center Street, Seward Park, Washington Square Park and the Greenway.
Last year’s nest on Houston Street is not being used again this year. The male from last year’s nest died of Fronce and while hawks have been seen on the Lower East Side all winter, no signs of a new nest has been found.
The St. John the Divine’s pair have both been seen recently but further uptown. Construction continues on the church and they may have moved but no one has found a new nest location. This one is a real mystery.
The Shepard Hall, City College nest looks bigger according to reports, but nest looks unoccupied. The hawks may be nesting somewhere nearby.
Here are pictures of four nests from this weekend:
Inwood Hill Park
Highbridge Park
Lower Riverside Drive
Fifth Avenue
Riverside Hawks
Things seem to be just fine for the Riverside Hawks, although a rat baiting station in a small garden on the south side of Riverside and 79th Street, does have me worried. Will rat poisons still be a problem this year? Beyond this garden, it seems that a major source of poisons in city parks is from restaurant concessions, but there is still no legal language in their contracts to monitor/control their extermination plans.
When I arrived in the early afternoon, the male came in. He landed on one branch, visited another with some old prey (either cached food or leftovers from his mate), and then visited the nest. He then left and preened on a branch just north of the Boat Basin Café and flew out of sight.
