There have been more frequent Red-tailed Hawk sightings in Lower Manhattan in the last few years and luckily for me, I was nearby when a friend called to tell me she was near a group of people watching a Hawk eating something above a bar.
I was only a couple of minutes away at the time so I and a friend rushed over to take a look. The friend who reported the sighting couldn’t stay and was gone by the time my friend and I arrived. We were at a loss at first because the Hawk and the crowd was gone as well and we didn’t know exactly where to search for the bird.
I overheard some young men working in a barber shop chatting loudly and excitedly and I was pretty sure I heard one of them repeatedly saying the word Hawk. I asked them if they were talking about the Hawk and they happily said yes. One of the guys came outside and pointed a second floor air conditioner out to me and told me the Hawk was eating there.
There were a few pigeon feathers and a bulk of the pigeon body still on the AC:
I casually mentioned to the barber shop guy that there are lots of Hawks in the city and he said, “Yeah! They live on skyscrapers!” I wondered to myself if maybe he was thinking of Peregrine Falcons but I didn’t say anything. It was just cute to see him so excited over seeing a Hawk (and in such a random location!).
The air conditioner is above Marshall Stack bar, 66 Rivington Street (at the northwest corner of Allen and Rivington Streets).