The first overnight of the Washington Square Park female turned out to be a premature stay on the nest as she skipped at least the next two nights.  While this is the first time I’ve seen a hawk spend a night on a nest and not return, I don’t think it is a cause for concern.  Either Wednesday’s Peregrine battle or large protest in the park could have caused the female to feel a need to occupy/protect the nest for the night.

This evening, both hawks were very active and were being a couple by sharing perches and food.  It looked like things were back to normal for late winter.  I suspect brooding will start within a week.

Update 3/11/17: The first egg was seen on the nest Saturday afternoon around 1 p.m.

On International Women’s Day, which had a noisy demonstration in Washington Square Park, the female spent her first overnight of the year on the nest.  The park was full of protesters when I arrived at the park tonight and I almost walked to Tompkins Square Park.  Luckily, I decided to stay and watched a Red-tailed Hawk chase a Peregrine Falcon from One Fifth Avenue and went out of sight.  Shortly thereafter the male was on the Judson Cross and the female was in the nest.  She was still on the nest when I left the park at 7 p.m.

A hawk can start spending the night on the nest way before eggs are laid.  It will be interesting to see how long it takes until we see the first egg.

Update 3/9/17: The female did not spend the night on the nest the next night.  This is unusual, but given the Peregrine Falcon’s late appearance and the protesters in the park, she might have felt a need to protect the nest on Wednesday night.  The next week should be interesting.

This morning there were reports of both the male and female Washington Square Park Red-tailed Hawks visiting the nest and at least one observation of copulation on 1 Fifth Avenue.  When I arrived, Bobby, the male, was the only hawk I saw.  He made two visits to the nest while I was there and added at stick to the nest.

I caught up with Bobby, the male adult Red-tailed Hawk of Washington Square Park at dusk.  He was on D’Agostino Hall, 37 Washington Square West and 29 Washington Square West before flying north towards 8th Street.  No sign of his mate.

Both adults spent about an hour on the West face of the Silver Building, using the shelter of the roof overhang to stay out of the drizzle.  I wasn’t able to track them after they left.

The first photograph is of the nest ledge on the Bobst library and shows the location of the two cameras. (As in past years, I suspect we’ll have a small blind spot on the western side of the ledge.)

Both adults were active in the park after about 4:00 pm on Friday.  Locations visited were…

• Both hawks soaring high above Broadway from about 3rd Street to 10th Street, escorting a third raptor away.
• A visit by at least one hawk to One Fifth Avenue’s north side
• The female perching on a water tank roof on the NW side of the park
• The female moving to the Silver building on the NE side of the park, perching on the AC unit, then on the NYU flagpole
• The male appearing low first on a street lamp on Washington Square North, then a tree inside the park’s NE corner
• Both hawks then moving to the SW side of the park, the male to the Judson Cross, and the female a block outside the park on a Law School dorm roof
• Both hawks taking off to roost for the night.  The female to an unknown location and the male to a pipe on a building at the NW corner of the park