It's egg-brooding time for our Tompkins Square Red-Tailed Hawks, Amelia and Charlie. This means Amelia will be spending the bulk of the next several weeks hunkered down in their nest. Charlie will hunt for food an provide meals for both of them. He will take over nest duty several times a day to give Amelia a break to eat and get some exercise.
Below is Amelia on the left and Charlie on the right. Note the difference in their size - Amelia is an impressively large hawk.
The hawks have been putting on some mating displays for the last couple of weeks and will continue to do so until the last egg is laid. Below are some mating highlights from the last week or so.
Atop St Nicholas of Myra church on Avenue A:
In a honey locust tree on the east side of the park:
This is a new spot...on top of what ever that thing is way up near the roof of the Christodora building on Avenue B. Penthouse residents may have had a good view of this encounter.
I was two seconds late for this, but caught the hawks just after mating on Most Holy Redeemer on E 3rd Street. This photo was taken from within Tompkins Square, five blocks away. Amelia is on the left and Charlie is on the right.
Amelia looking out from the nest:
The best bet for seeing hawk action during brooding time is watching Charlie hunt in the park and deliver food to Amelia. They seem to like taking their meals in the tree in the middle of the central lawn, so that's a good place to look for them.
