Manhattan hawk watchers are keeping an eye on the Terence Cardinal Cooke Red-tailed Hawk nest this week. It was the first pair we saw start to brood, and it might hatch this week. I caught up with them on both Saturday and Sunday.
Brooding continues at Cardinal Cooke. The male didn’t come to the nest while I was there but did perch on a tree up by the Compost Heap for about twenty minutes, before flying off to chase away another Red-tailed Hawk. There usually isn’t much going on before the eggs hatch, and that’s exactly what I saw.
Over the last few weeks, a pair of Red-tailed Hawks has been building a nest on the Terence Cardinal Cooke Health Care Center at 1249 Fifth Avenue at 106th Street. It’s on a ledge near the top of the building on the southwest corner. It overlooks the Conservatory Garden of Central Park.
I never give this location my attention, since hawks have built here in the past only to have the nest blow away.
So, I was very, very surprised to see an exchange (when one hawk relieves another hawk of egg sitting duties) today. I’ll have to go back to make sure but everything looked like it was an active nest.
