Winter holiday hawk round-up

Winter holiday time is traditionally when we see an uptick in hawk action around the neighborhood.  This year is no exception, but the recent string of dark and overcast days has made photography a challenge. Below are a few highlights from days when the clouds parted enough for me to capture Christo, Amelia and a few intruders in their territory.

I found Christo perched on the east side of Most Holy Redeemer church on E 3rd Street on a bright and cold morning.



Amelia often perches on the church cross, but I have yet to see her join Christo at the base of the dome like Dora used to do.



Earlier this week, Christo made an impressive dive from the roof of the Christodora House...



...to his flagpole throne in Tompkins Square.



Here is a closer look at Christo's pretty brown eyes. When he first arrived in the neighborhood five years ago, his eyes were a much lighter amber. They've deepened in color as he's matured.



Amelia's eye color is light brown and can be seen even as she soars.  This has been one way for me to identify her at a distance, although it's not very reliable as her eye color will also change with age.





Christo and Amelia have been spending a lot of time defending their territory against other young red-tails, who have been pretty brazen about coming into the park. The one pictured below kept flying around Tompkins Square despite being chased by both resident adults.



Below is another immature red-tail on 2nd Street who just wouldn't take a hint when Christo and Amelia kept diving at it. They chased it over to First Avenue, then into the Village View housing complex.



Cooper's hawks are also in the area. I've counted at least one adult and two immature Cooper's hawks around the park, but there could be more. In the past, the red-tails have mostly tolerated the Cooper's hawks, but as nesting season approaches, Christo and Amelia are getting more aggressive about chasing them out of the area. Below is an immature Cooper's on 6th Street near Avenue A.



This is another immature Cooper's hawk in the New York City Marble Cemetery on E 2nd Street.



Most of the hawk activity I've been seeing has been happening high in the air over Tompkins Square and the surrounding streets. As the weather improves and we see some sunny days, the hawks should be easier to spot, especially now that the trees have lost their leaves.

As yet, there has been no sign of nest-building, but Christo and Amelia have been hanging out in the ginkgo tree on the east side of Tompkins, so I hope they choose to use that location again for their nest.  This will be the first nest Christo and Amelia construct together, as the previous one was built by Dora, and then mostly by Christo as he spent last winter without her. We can look forward to seeing stick-gathering and other nesting activity in January/February.

Until then, Christo is staying vigilant in Tompkins Square.

Dora update: living well with a new guy at WINORR

We've heard from the folks at Wildlife in Need of Rescue and Rehabilitation (WINORR) that our lovely Dora is doing well and has a new mate, a handsome young male red-tailed hawk named Winston.

Here is the couple pictured below, with Dora on the left and Winston on the right. All the photos are courtesy of Bobby Horvath.

Dora was taken to WINORR on April 4 after being unable to fly back up to her nest in Tompkins Square Park. She had suffered a wing injury and, although did not have any broken bones, sustained damage that left her unable to function properly in the wild. It is not known if she will ever be released, but we can say for certain she will not be returning to Tompkins Square Park.

It looks like Dora is happy hanging out with Winston, who also has a wing injury that keeps him from being unable to live in the wild. The two have bonded and I'm glad the drama of the last year has had a positive conclusion.

Bobby and Cathy Horvath take care of Dora, Winston and many more injured birds and animals out of the kindness of their hearts. They receive no funding for all their hard work, so please consider making a donation to their cause.

Christo featured in 2019 Peregrine Fund calendar

Our local Tompkins Square red-tailed hawk, Christo, is featured for the month of August in the 2019 Peregrine Fund "Birds of Prey" calendar.

The image is of Christo on an extremely hot summer day drinking water from the General Slocum memorial fountain in Tompkins Square Park.

Calendars are available for purchase from the Peregrine Fund (PDF order form), or you can receive one for free when making a donation. The Peregrine Fund does inspiring work to conserve raptors. You can read more about what they do and how to get involved on their website.

Thanksgiving hawks in Tompkins Square

While Thanksgiving dinners were being served under the Krishna Tree in Tompkins Square Park, I found Christo the resident Red-Tailed Hawk hunting for rats behind the park offices. No turkey for this guy!



Over the weekend, Amelia and Christo perched atop the Christodora building in the afternoon sun, keeping watch over their territory.



Earlier today, I found Amelia perched in the ginkgo tree that hosted the hawk nest last season.



She seemed to be watching the activity below as a construction crew worked on updating the Avenue B playground. Both hawks have been spending time in the ginkgo recently, so the busy construction below the tree doesn't seem to be bothering them.

Before the Thanksgiving holiday, six hawks were observed in the park all at the same time. Christo and Amelia actively chased an intruding Red-Tail above the trees of the central lawn. While they were occupied, this immature Cooper's Hawk perched in the Krishna Tree.



It flew to the Avenue A side of the park where it joined a second Cooper's and chased after pigeons.

Meanwhile, I found this immature Red-Shouldered Hawk perched over the construction area by Avenue B. I previously saw an adult fly over the park this last January, but I've never seen a Red-Shouldered perched in the park until now.





In the span of an hour, there were three red-tails, one red-shouldered and two Cooper's hawks in Tompkins Square, which really made my day.

As a hawk bonus, this is a photo I took on Halloween of a Cooper's hawk flying past the Statue of Liberty.



The photo was taken from Governors Island, and was a satisfying end to the 2018 season on the island.

Cooper's hawk catches robin in Tompkins Square

This last Thursday, I came across a young Cooper's hawk who had just caught a robin in Tompkins Square.



The hawk's streaky markings gave it excellent camouflage among the fall foliage.





Not wasting any time, the hawk went to work plucking the robin.



But the Cooper's hawk didn't get a chance to tuck into its meal before red-tailed Amelia came swooping in with a scream.





Christo joined her in chasing the Cooper's out of their territory. Because of construction in the SE quadrant of the park, I was unable to follow them to see what happened next.

Meanwhile, I looked in on the state of the red-tailed hawk nest in the ginkgo tree on the east side of the park.  There is an assemblage of sticks in the same location as last season, but I'm not sure whether or not the hawks will decided to use the same spot this year.



The nest tree is within the fenced-off area of the park where construction crews are rebuilding the Avenue B and 7th Street playgrounds. So far, the human activity doesn't seem to be preventing the hawks from going about their business.

Raptor withdrawal

It's the slow time of year for seeing a lot of hawk action in the park.  Since our fledgling left in late September, there hasn't been much excitement to report, but Christo and Amelia are definitely around and can be seen in Tompkins Square and the surrounding neighborhood.

There was some confusion when a young hawk was seen hunting behind the bathrooms late one afternoon.  I thought it was the resident fledgling, but a closer look proved it to be a different young Red-Tail (below).  The face was much lighter, the markings on the chest were not quite right, and the tail was completely different.  Urban Hawks has more on this handsome young stranger.



Christo seems to be back to his old schedule of turning up behind the park offices at dusk to hunt for dinner. As the sun goes down, the rats come out and Christo is there.  Below, he gets harassed by a Blue Jay, something the hawks calmly endure all the time. 



After suffering some raptor withdrawal, I got my fix by attending the Blessing of the Animals at the Cathedral of St John the Divine in Morningside Heights. After the ceremonies, there were birds on display compliments of Wildlife in Need of Rescue and Rehabilitation (WINORR).

I just happened to wear my Kestrel shirt that day!



A closer look at the little guy - he was so sweet and calm.



Along with the Kestrel, a Peregrine Falcon attracted a lot of attention. I could never get this close to one in the wild.



This hawk was not part of the WINORR family, but there were many birds brought in to be part of the blessing ceremonies.



Like this Snowy Owl.



Meanwhile, one of the resident wild Red-Tailed hawks perched on Gabriel's horn atop the cathedral, overlooking Morningside Park.



This is a popular perch for the resident hawks, as observed many times by Morningside Hawks blog. Check out the rest of his site for the history of raptors in that area.

They never say goodbye

There hasn't been any hawk news to report from Tompkins Square Park lately. Christo and Amelia are still around, but it seems our fledgling has ventured off on his own.  I last saw him in the park on September 27.  Below is some video I took of him that evening as he hunted for rats behind the park offices.



I don't know where the young hawks go when they leave the area, nor do I know how far they go or if they ever return. After seeing this fledgling almost daily since he hatched on/around June 1, it's been hard getting used to his absence.

This hawk nesting season in Tompkins Square saw a lot of drama, which included:

Dora going to rehab in late November/early December 2017
The arrival of Nora/Barucha in December 2017
Dora's return from rehab on February 26, 2018
Dora's return to WINORR on April 4, 2018
The sudden arrival of Amelia
The rescue of Christo and Amelia's first fledgling on July 25, 2018
The death of the first fledgling on July 29, 2018
The younger fledgling suffering from illness

For those wondering about the condition of Dora, she is still with WINORR and they report she has  a new mate and is doing well. 

Tompkins red-tail fledgling is still with us

The Tompkins Square Park red-tailed hawk fledgling is still with us as of this fourth week of September, officially making him the first of Christo's kids to stick around this long.  He did hatch a month later than chicks in previous years, and he did have a set-back with illness, but I really didn't think he'd be with us this long.  At this point, every day with him is a bonus.



I've seen the fledgling perched on the cross of St Nicholas of Myra church at Avenue A and 10th Street, and eating lunch with mom Amelia on the roof above Mast Books on Avenue A and 5th Street, but I don't know if he's ventured much further from the park than that. He still seems perfectly happy to stay in the park where he continues to entertain his adoring fans.



I caught him perched on the cellphone transmitters on the roof of the park bathrooms the other day just after he'd had a bath.



Shaking it off...



The park squirrels continue to bully and intimidate the young hawk, but one of them finally suffered the consequences and became a meal.



On Monday, I watched as the fledgling caught a monster rat near the basketball courts.



Ta-da!



The rat put up a struggle, but this was the fatal bite to the neck.





The hawk experienced some difficulties lifting his heavy catch, but he managed to take off and carry it to a nearby tree.



A short time later, eating rat spaghetti...mmm!



Apparently the giant rat wasn't enough, because after eating, the fledgling went and caught himself a second one. He's doing very well catching prey.



The hawk is still very much a kid and plays with his food.  Below, he chest-bumps a mouse before eating it.



I have no idea how long the fledgling will stick around the park, but I hope he stays as long as possible.  He's become a familiar and joyful fixture there, and makes so many people happy.


See more recent hawk photos on my Flickr page.