Christo - Part 2

This week, I'm continuing to focus on Christo, who went missing from Tompkins Square Park in mid-February. The park and neighborhood feel less alive without him, but his mate, Amelia, is carrying on and is proceeding with the spring nesting season.

This is a photo of the pair (Christo is on the right) from February 15, 2022.

The pair was often seen together perched on the dome of Most Holy Trinity church on E 3rd Street. They'd sit on the north side where they had a view of the park, four blocks away. In the photo below, Christo is on the right.

Here he is flying in the late afternoon sun. With his golden brown head, he looked really beautiful in this light.

The spring of 2014, when Christo and his original mate, Dora, nested on the Christodora was so special. People gathered on Avenue B to look up at the window where they had their three chicks and were amazed to see something so wild taking place right in the middle of the neighborhood. I heard from so many people telling me how seeing him touched their lives in a meaningful way. Christo had the power to connect personally with people and he brought us a lot of joy and happiness.

My favorite experiences with Christo were watching him raise his kids. He was very young himself when he arrived, yet he was able to teach his offspring how to be successful hunters. That first nesting year, he was so organized with the fledglings - lining them up on a tree branch and feeding them all together. He patiently picked up any food they dropped, and kept dinnertime neat and tidy. I always thought that if he were a person, he'd be a great roommate.

 

Here he is (on the right) feeding one of his fledglings on June 22, 2021.

Christo had many individual quirks, and one of them was his choice of nesting materials. He liked to strip the bark from the scholar trees that surround the main lawn of the park and use it to line his nest. He even stripped a few branches bare.

His other preferred material was seed pods from the redwood tree next to the men's restroom. Every year, without fail, Christo would take long strands of the seeds to the nest. I never saw Dora or Amelia do this.

 

This is Christo collecting redwood pods on January 28, 2020.

Last year, he surprised me by gathering redwood pods after the nesting season was over. This is him taking green seeds from the tree on July 5, 2024. 

Christo was a familiar sight on the ground within the park. The fenced-in garden areas provided him with safety when he hunted rats, and also enabled spectators to watch him do his thing.

 

This is him shortly after he caught a rat on February 6, 2017.

I grew up in a semi-rural area where I saw hawks all the time, but they were always soaring high in the sky or perched atop tall poles along roads. I never saw one up close until I moved to NYC, and being able to get to know an individual hawk is not something I ever thought could happen. While watching Christo in the park, people would tell me, "Oh, I see hawks in [insert other state] all the time. They're not unique." And I would respond by saying something like, "Yes, but when have you ever seen one catching a rat with the Empire State Building in the background?"

As I mentioned in my previous post, Christo made use of the bird bath that used to be behind the park offices. We referred to is as his "spa" as he bathed in it regularly, especially in hot weather. 

Sometimes, Christ even used it to wash his food!

 

This is him on February 15, 2018, rinsing his dinner rat.

Christo endured a few blizzards over the years, but nothing he couldn't handle. When the snow came down hard, he'd just hunker down on a tree branch and wait for it to pass. When ever there was a storm, I'd get worried and go to the park to confirm he was ok.

 

Here he is with his face covered in snowflakes on January 7, 2017.

Christo was also often seen atop the light fixtures in the park. Not only are they perfect bird perches, but they serve as good launching pads for diving after rats.

And, the lights helped Christo hunt rats at night. When the rats came out at dusk, Christo would be waiting for them. In his first few years in the park, I witnessed him hunting after sunset many times, which was pretty cool but I could never manage to get decent photos or video in the dark.

You can often see the hawks perched on the cross of Most Holy Trinity church at sunset. Amelia (and previously Dora) both liked to watch the day end from this spot, but sometimes Christo took in the view as well. Below, Christo and Amelia enjoy the sunset together on July 6, 2022.

These are just a couple of videos I never posted. The first is Christo and Amelia mating in the park on February 28, 2022. The second video is them hanging out on the cross of St Nicholas of Myra on March 2, 2022.

You can read up on Christo's history on my Tompkins Square hawk archive page.