Highbridge Park, Broadway Bridge and Columbus Circle

By D. Bruce YoltonEagles, Falcons, Hawks and Osprey, Other Red-tailed Hawks, Southern Central Park Red-tailed Hawks

James O’Brien (yojimbot.blogspot.com) hosted a Harlem and Washington Heights bird watching walk on Sunday.

From his 145th Street apartment, we could see this Red-tailed Hawk on an apartment building to the south, who…
…then flew southwest out of sight.
We walked through Highbridge park on the upper path.  We saw a Red-tail or two in the distance but unlike our previous trip, no Cooper’s Hawks or American Kestrels.

We then took a brief subway ride to Broadway Bridge, which is a car and subway draw bridge at the upper end of Manhattan.  The bridge is home to two Peregrine Falcons.

Just after we arrived the pair of Peregrine Falcons hassled a Red-tailed Hawk perched on top of an apartment building just east of the Marble Hill train station.  This hawk may be one of the Inwood Hill Park Red-tails.
The Red-tailed Hawk did all it could to puff up and look as big possible.
Soon the Peregrines moved out of sight to the north.
The Red-tail reappeared from the southeast before flying out of sight.  For a period of time it appeared to have a smaller bird pursuing it, possibly a Kestrel.

On my way home, I got off the 1 train at Columbus Circle and looked for the Central Park South hawks.  One of them was on a building between 8th and 9th Avenues on 58th Street.

Soon a second hawk appeared and both of them flew around Columbus Circle.
They both landed on a corner of the Time Warner building.
They flew between the Time Warner, Trump International and the new Zeckendorf buildings.
All in all, it was a great day for raptor watching.