Early birds: Red-tails Christo & Amelia getting a head start on spring

Tompkins Square Red-Tailed Hawks, Christo and Amelia, spent most of January working on their nest in the park. Now it seems they've moved on to mating, which puts them on an earlier nesting schedule than last year.

In 2019, the hawks were seen mating in mid-February. This year, I caught them mating on February 3. The photos below show them on top of the Christodora building on that day.











The hawks will likely continue bonding and working on their nest, which appears to be the Honey Locust location near the Temperance Fountain. This nest was last used in 2017 by Christo and Dora (the season that saw the single fledgling, Ten, and the introduction of foster-hawk, Flatbush).

Last year, Amelia laid an egg on/around March 13, so it will be interesting to see if they stick to the same schedule this year.