Red-tailed Hawk landing on nest, Bobst Library, NYU, New York City

Southeastern Central Park lunchtime pigeon stalk – March 8th, 2012

Checking on the Crown Building nest, all seems to still be in order:

A friend reported that one of the Crown Building hawks was seen bringing a branch to the nest either Wednesday or Thursday morning (a few days after an unknown Red-tailed Hawk was found dead in the park Sunday). I wish I knew for certain if the dead hawk was the Crown Building hawk’s mate or if it was one of the many hawks in the area.

I checked Central Park’s Grand Army Plaza, part of the Crown Building hawk’s territory, for its red-tails but saw none soaring, perched, or chasing pigeons. I did not have much time to spend outdoors so I gave up my hawk search and headed toward the park grounds to photograph any song birds that might be in the area.

While standing at a park intersection at 59th Street, I saw one of the Crown Building hawks sitting in a tree across the street, stalking the several flocks of pigeons that live at Grand Army Plaza.

It flew above me, toward the Plaza Hotel, to catch a pigeon sitting on a perch on the side of the building:

The hawk did not catch the pigeon.

It swooped around and headed north again. I lost sight of it within seconds thanks to its low flying and all the obstacles and people between us:

Oops, you’re not a hawk!:


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