How Many Hawks Are Flying Around Uptown?

Over the weekend, Yojimbot at The Origin of Species went on his annual Harlem Hawk Walk to check in on the avian community uptown. He has many wonderful pictures (some are in the gallery above), video, and observations here; Bloomingdale Village also has a great write-up.

As for the count, he saw three juvenile redtailed hawks, five adult redtailed hawks, an adult peregrine, a juvenile Cooper's hawk and an adult kestrel. Plus two very adorable monk parakeets! And if you're interested in checking out some birds this winter, the Parks Department offers these birding events--you can learn a little about bird watching and then be able to observe on your own.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on December 8, 2008 12:45 PM

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0wen

Weird. I also had a Red Tail (Red Shouldered?) Hawk on my fire escape in Park Slope [on Sunday] [near 3rd St & 7th Ave].

I wonder if we've got a new resident?

just saying

Yesterday, there was a juvenile Red Tail Hawk perched on my fire escape in Brooklyn. Unfortunately, he may have been attracted by the birds at my birdfeeder which is attached by suction cups to the window.

And yes, the green Monk Parrots/Parakeets do stop by occasionally. http://www.brooklynparrots.com/

yojimbot

Tx Camarilla, these hawks are known to nest on the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Mapping their territory and studying their behavior is a hobby of mine. What do you do in Harlem when your not running on treadmills?

camarilla

They don't roost there that I've noticed or whatever hawks do to make themselves at home. Sometimes they just take a rest there. And stare. And wait...

yojimbot

Thanks for the linkage Gothamist. I will check for the Hawks by NYSC as that is 1 block North of where I took those opening shots. In Midtown, there are a few peregrine falcon nests, and they regularly snag pigeons out of the sky.

Chuckell

One morning a couple of years ago I was walking to work when I saw something out of the corner of my eye. It was falling straight down from the sky in a tight spiral and landed in the middle of Madison Avenue. I stepped over to it and saw that it was a pigeon wing with a little bloody stump of bone at one end. Does anyone have any idea--was this the result of a hawk strike? How the hell else does a pigeon become separated from its wing?

Those monk parakeets are everywhere these days--there's a colony of hundreds and hundreds in Edgewater, NJ--worth the trip across the river to see 'em, even--and of course in B'lyn. I understand they're native to a similarly chilly part of Argentina and so do fine in the winter.

halfpastdome

Columbia students have adopted the hawks (mistaking them for one hawk) and have named them Hawkmadinejad, after the Iranian leader who visited last year

We use the Hawkmadinebwog (an offshoot of popular blog "the bwog") to track him:

http://www.bwog.net/index.php?page=hawk

camarilla

There are hawks that sit on the roof in front of the recessed 4th floor NYSC on 125th. It's like they're staring at me on the treadmill, waiting for me to fail.