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

Southeastern Central Park Hawks and Wood Duck – December 27th, 2012

I’m going back a little in time and sharing some photos I took of the two Southeastern Central Park Red-tailed Hawks and the Pond’s Wood Duck from Thursday.

One of the Hawks flying in from the north:

It dove into the trees and came up with a twig (perhaps nest material):

The Crown Building’s spire on the left (building along 5th Avenue between 56th & 57th Streets):

The Hawk dropped down to where its paltry nest was built last spring:

But the Hawk changed its mind and did not leave the twig there:

The Hawk eventually flew out of sight.

It returned a minute later and landed on an east-facing ledge of The Plaza:

Flying in front of the Solow Building (57th Street between 5th & 6th Aves):

The Hawk settled onto its perch so I went looking for the Wood Duck I’d been seeing every day lately. It was swimming along with some of the resident Mallards:

The Hawk on The Plaza was gone.

I saw what was probably the same Hawk soaring nearby (past the Sherry-Netherland Hotel and GM Building along 5th):

It returned and landed on The Plaza:

Off again:

The Hawk still had the dot mark on one of its tail feathers so perhaps the feature is a permanent marking after all:

It noticed its partner flying toward it from the north:

The first Hawk would lunge at times, as if ready to hop off its perch and at the flying flock of pigeons below:

Unfortunately, I had to head back to work but it couldn’t have been better timing since the Hawks were seemingly relaxed in place for a bit.


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