Christo the hunter

Just when I think Christo the Tompkins Square hawk is growing docile...



...and mellow...



...look out!



He reminds me that he's a top predator.

I arrived in the park late in the day, around 5pm.  In a span of less than 30 minutes, Christo caught two sparrows and three rats.  Not wasting any time, he took each catch straight back to the nest where Dora fed the kids.

Below, Christo leaps up to the fence with a sparrow he caught somewhere in the trees.







I didn't even have time to chase after him.  As I was halfway to the nest, he came right back to the hunting grounds behind the park offices.



Here he is with a rat.



Pausing to rest for less than a minute, it was back to the nest.



Another rat.



Away again!



You can just barely see a third rat on the branch in front of him.



Christo was actually still hunting when I left him, but it was getting late and I had to go. I've never seen him hunt in quick succession like that, and he was successful with every attempt.  He's really an amazing creature.



You might be wondering why there aren't any photos of Dora.  She is the master of hiding from my lens!  I do see her, but she just doesn't reveal herself as much as Christo.  She's definitely present, working hard to take care of their three hawklets.

See more photos of Christo hunting here.

My first baby head sighting

Finally, on this sunny afternoon, I caught my first glimpse of a baby hawk head in the nest at Tompkins Square.  Until now, I've been unable to see the nestlings from the ground.

Hello!



Dad Christo watches over the nest from a branch on the right.  Mom Dora is just barely visible, her brown back hunched down behind the baby's fuzzy white head.  Happy Mother's Day to Dora!

Three's a charm

A reader sent in these photos today that show the three baby hawks in Tompkins Square.  Happy Thursday!

Photos:  Stephen Murello

Christo and Dora are three for three

I've been unable to get out to Tompkins Square this week, but Urban Hawks has video confirmation from last night that shows three nestlings for Christo and Dora.  You can see the video and photos here.

This is the third time in as many years that this hawk pair has had three kids.  The next few weeks should be entertaining.  Hurrah!

All calm at the Tompkins hawk nest

The last few days have been pretty calm at the hawk nest in Tompkins Square.  It's still too soon to get a clear view of the nestling(s) inside, but parents Christo and Dora have been visibly attentive.

On Saturday, Dora brought some fresh leaves to the nest.



You can also see the ginkgo tree, in which the nest resides, is starting to sprout new leaves.



A short while later, Christo arrived carrying a starling.



Since the egg(s) hatched, I've seen him deliver several starlings.  This is new behavior and I have to wonder if the smaller prey is easier to feed to the babies.



I'm still traumatized after seeing the Chinatown hawk die of rat poisoning just a month ago, so I do feel a bit relieved when ever I see a non-rat brought to the nest.  That said, Christo and Dora are feeding their young rats, as well as eating the rodents themselves.

Below, Christo performs a feeding as Dora keeps watch.



Dora took a short break to preen and catch some sun in the honey locust to the north of the nest.  This is a good tree to see the hawks as it's visible from the walkway and benches along the Avenue B side of the park.



Dora flies back to towards the nest.



Christo takes off from the locust tree.





Sunday was rainy and gloomy, but Christo rewarded the few park visitors by posing low on a light pole near the 7th Street entrance.





There were a lot of little birds around and he seemed to be very interested in them, but he took off after a few minutes...





...and opted to perch in the locust tree where he was promptly harassed by a blue jay.  The jays have been really aggressive with him lately.



But at the end of each day, Christo maintains his status as king of the East Village sky.

Feeding time in Tompkins Square

With at least one hungry hatchling in the Tompkins Square hawk nest, dad Christo has more mouths to feed.  I found him Wednesday evening preparing dinner - a large rat - behind the park offices.



Sticking his tongue out...



Then it was off to deliver dinner to the nest.  He made sure to give me a nice close look at the rat as he flew past.





I had a hard time getting a good angle on the nest as the sun went down.  In a couple of weeks, it may be impossible to see due to leaves being in the way.  In the photo below, Christo stands guard while Dora does the feeding.  Her tail is just visible sticking out of the nest below the horizontal branch.



To my surprise, Christo didn't react at all when this Peregrine falcon flew overhead.  It circled high above the nest a few times before drifting north.

After dinner service ended, Christo flew to his favorite perch on the flagpole where he was promptly mobbed by a blue jay.



Another day done.

Feedings commence at the hawk nest in Tompkins Square

This last Saturday (April 23), I caught Dora in what appeared to be the act of feeding at the nest.  Her back end stuck out of the nest and she did the telltale head-bobbing, indicating at least one egg has hatched.



Meanwhile, Christo remained on guard at the nest.  At one point, he remained vigilant for a couple of hours.



Dora eventually emerged to stretch, but did not fly off.



Here is the nest from a different angle.  Christo is on the branch to the right and Dora's dark head is barely visible above the rim of the nest. 



Christo made several food deliveries to the nest.  Here, he grabs an adult starling from the ground.





On Sunday, he caught and delivered a baby starling.



Later in the day, I saw him take up another adult starling, then raided a blue jay nest.  He seemed to be focused on small prey.

Below, Christo removes what I thought were leftovers.



It turned out he just needed to prepare the food a bit more, so he took it to a nearby tree, plucked the feathers, then took it back to Dora in the nest.





The two of them stayed on the nest for a really long time.  On Sunday, I didn't see Dora take a break until 7pm.



The proud papa.





Based on previous years, if we assume the first hatch was on April 23, we can estimate fledge time to be in 45-50 days, which would be around June 7-12. 

It will be interesting to see whether or not the ability to climb the branches of the tree will make a difference in the development of the young hawk(s) this time around.