St. John/Columbia Red-tailed Hawks

Confirming Three at St. John’s Cathedral

I was able to confirm that we have three chicks at the St. John’s site this weekend.

The eastern edge of the nest is being used by both the parents and the eyasses now.  So, you have to check from two angles one from Morningside Drive, and one from 113th Street.
The mother on the Plant building of St. Luke’s. (The building is named after a person with the last name of Plant rather than being from physical plant.)
The mother moves to a spot close to the nest on the Cathedral.
Yes, I’m going to make you run up and down Morningside drive to find me.
You can see all three eyasses here.
All three are here too.
Here too.
All three are here too, but finding the third is like playing Where’s Waldo?
They’re growing up nicely. Activity is also increasing. If you haven’t visited the nest this season, now is the time.
The mother leaving the nest.
She quickly came back with a branch.
She then left and the kids settled down, so I went off to Green-Wood.
Inwood Hill Park Red-tailed Hawks

Inwood Hill Park, Week 6

It was a hot day, and only one little window through the leaves is still open to take photographs of part of the Inwood Hill Red-tailed Hawk nest.   I only saw one eyas today, but I’m not worried.  About two thirds of the nest is now obscured from view.  It was a hot afternoon and I suspect the second eyas was keeping cool in the shade.

A head appears.  After no activity for over 30 minutes, I was afraid they had fledged.
A parent arrives.  Note the eyas in the background.
The parent rearranged some food and takes a few small bites.
An eyas finally appears from behind the foliage.
This may be their last week on the nest.
Other Red-tailed Hawks

A Second Day in Astoria Park

My second day in Astoria Park started out slow on a hot sunny afternoon.  The eyasses were asleep and I couldn’t find the parents.  I took a walk around the park, and when I returned to the track, the mother was on a lighting fixture.

Soon the father arrived and landed briefly on a light fixture on the opposite side of the track.  He soon left and went at least ten blocks south.
The mother stayed on the light fixture. 

I tried to track the adult male, but lost him and returned to the nest.

I found the eyasses alone, but unlike before they were active.
They try a few wing flaps before falling over.
The mother returns.
Feeding begins.
Note the foot on the end of that chunk of meat.
This piece is a little too big.
The mother moves it around and tears of chunks for the eyasses.  At one point both eyasses fight over the same piece.
Soon the eyasses settle down and within minutes are back to sleep, and I return to Manhattan.
Other Red-tailed Hawks

Astoria Park, Queens, New York

On Thursday, I followed up on a report from Jules Corkery (via Marie Winn’s blog) of a new Red-tailed Hawk nest in Astoria Park, on the Triborough Bridge.  I can confirm that there are two photogenic eyasses at the site.

The nest is located on the southern side of the Astoria portion of the bridge. The nest is easily accessible via public transportation. Astoria Park site is a short walk from the second to the last stop on the N/W subway line.  Except for the stairs up and down the elevated line, it is a nice flat six block walk.

Take the N or W to the Astoria Blvd. stop, exit to Hoyt Avenue South and walk towards the river.  At 21st Street is the entrance to Astoria Park, walk in and go to the middle of the tennis courts.  Look over to the bridge.  You’ll see a large concrete structure that anchors the suspension cables.  On the right corner below the roadway you’ll see the nest on a large drain pipe.

When I first arrived at the nest, I went right under it.  Within ten minutes of photographing the nest, a Police Officer threatened to give me a summonses for taking pictures.   Under current regulations while on MTA Bridge property, photography is prohibited.  I was very near the nest, so I may have been on MTA property when I was threatened with a summons.

However, it seems that photographing the bridge from public property is perfectly legal, so taking pictures from within Astoria Park would be perfectly fine. 

The ACLU has a suit against the city pending about ambiguous policies toward photographers.  It seems that the department has ambiguous policies which led to the accidental harassment of photographers.  I think my situation was similar to the problems birders have been having with scopes on tripods in city parks.  It’s too bad well meaning Police Officers are stepping over the line, due to ambiguous policies and poor training.

I’m going to be careful while in Astoria and keep my 500mm lens out of sight of the guard station.  I understand the paranoia in these post 9/11 times, but I thought we lived in the USA and not the old USSR!

The nest is next to a pigeon roost.  Imagine your meals flying by every few minute!
The kids were asleep when I arrived.
Two sleeping eyasses.
One perks up.
A preening eyas on the left.
The adult female flies off toward the Astoria Park track.
She’s impressive.  Note the light color of her eyes.
She does some half-hearted hunting on the underside of the bridge.
She scrapes her beak on a railing when she returns.
She flies off to a stadium light on the other side of the track.
She then returns to the nest.
Where she is greeted by two young ones.
Owls

Wednesday, May 23rd

Tonight, Jean and I were joined by another “Owl Tour”.  By accident, we and some Robins led the group to the two adult owls in a Red Oak, where the owls had been last night.

They both flew out to the same northern tree as last night, and sang to each other.  The songs were in two keys, one for each of them.

They made their way towards the “sex tree” but were chased by Robins much later into the night than usual.  At some point the Robins gave up.

(There were Robin alarms from other trees south of the adults.  It would be nice to find one of the rehabilitated young ones some night.)

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St. John/Columbia Red-tailed Hawks

Brief Visit To The Cathedral

I had a late work meeting, so I could only spend about 30 minutes at the Cathedral.  One of the parents was on the Archangel when I arrived, and was soon joined for a few minutes by the other parent.  Their backs were turned to me, so it was hard to make a solid identification.

Then one of the eyasses decided to defecate and move around the nest for about five minutes.  Other than these two events, the nest was quiet.

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