Some sad news to end this week: Violet, the matriarch of a family of red-tailed hawks in Washington Square Park and beloved star of the Times's "hawk-cam", has died following surgery to amputate her injured foot. She was believed to be about five years old. more ›

We know many things delay the subways—track fires, signal problems—but did you realize that our fine-feathered friends can also fowl things up? For instance, yesterday, there were 45 minutes on the N yesterday because of a duck and a hawk. more ›

Well, we have now confirmed that hawks cannot really carry 15-pound cats: this week, a hawk swooped down and snatched a chubby white kitty on the Upper West Side, leaving his owner frantically scrambling to find him...only to discover that the hawk had almost immediately dropped the cat a few doors down the block. more ›

In more terrifying animal news (as if Rat Bite Fever weren't enough!): this article about an injured hawk in Stuyvesant Square Park features some fun urban wildlife facts. For example, did you know that pigeons have a parasite in their body that they can survive with, but will kill "anything that eats them"? This is mostly bad news for hawks and Mike Tyson, but mostly hawks, which prey on pigeons and rats (the recently injured one was first believed to have eaten a poisoned rat). Maybe everyone should just stick to barbeque chicken scraps. Or not, circle of life, etc. more ›

Over the weekend a baby red-tailed hawk fell off of its nest atop an air conditioner and down on to 149th Street and Melrose Avenue in the Bronx—and luckily landed in to the hands of a troupe of bird lovers! According to the NY Post, the friends rescued their new feathered friend on the street, then canoed up the Harlem River in search of licensed falconer Ludger Balan—who happened to be nearby giving a lecture which they were on their way to. more ›

The first 16 seconds of this video might just be the cutest thing you'll see all day. It's like watching Bambi on ice, but instead of an animated animal, we get a real life young hawk learning to fly in the wind! According to Urban Hawks, who caught it all on tape, this fledgling spent this past Tuesday "playing above the emergency room of St. Luke's Hospital on Tuesday. The mother kept watch from a nearby railing." more ›

If only the trapped rat had gotten this kind of attention from passers-by. Vimeo user "timmmyk" says he was walking to the subway yesterday evening when he "noticed a large group of concerned people standing around a sick hawk on top of a FedEx van on 48th St. between 5th/Madison. I was among a number of people who called 311 for animal control to rescue this beautiful majestic creature. As the bird flew to a higher perch on a UPS truck it glanced my right ear with its wing. Is that good luck?" more ›

This just crossing our desktop: Prospect Park has its Hawk Weekend today and tomorrow. Red-tailed Hawks (the most common species in the city) eat squirrels and pigeons and generally get lots of press, including from us. If you go, please send us pictures of the "hawk puppet crafts"! more ›

Earlier today there was a report over the newswire about a "vicious hawk at the library" of Fordham University. The blog Fordham Notes has an update clarifying things, reporting that there was an injured red-tailed hawk and the vicious hawk was actually the injured bird's mate! The NYPD was called to the Rose Hill campus and has now taken the hawk to the vet. "We are still awaiting word on its condition, but we understand that officers had to wear protective gear to shield themselves from the bird's mate, which was not allowing anyone to get close to its injured counterpart." more ›

After yesterday's funny post about the hawk who flew into an East Village restaurant, we thought it a good opportunity to enjoy some photographs of red-tailed hawks in a more familiar setting—the park. Flickr user atkaufman has a really nice set of photographs of red-tailed hawks in Riverside Park. more ›

We suppose that even hawks get tired of killing their prey—yesterday, D. Billy at And I Am Not Lying wrote that he had a good lunch, "Well… there was this one part where A F***ING HAWK FLEW INTO THE RESTAURANT WHERE I WAS EATING, AND LANDED ON MY FOOD." What follows is an endearing story of shock and awe:

I was sitting at a window seat next to the open door, and my food had just been brought out. I looked down to see this guy (or gal - I don’t know hawks) just standing in the doorway, looking back and forth. After surveying the place for a few seconds, it flapped its way in and up onto one of the empty tables. more ›

Adrian Benepe may be the Parks Commissioner 364 days out of the year, but yesterday in Central Park he was The Falconer. That's him in the above photo holding a young female American kestrel, which was (illegally) taken in as a pet in Brooklyn before she was discovered by wildlife rehabilitators a few weeks ago. Moments after this photo was taken, Benepe fought off the urge to crush the raptor between his gloved hands, releasing it into the wild instead. more ›

Earlier this year Central Park crowds looked on in horror as a hawk dug his talons into a squirrel. Now the pigeons of New York are being targeted as the city considers bringing in robotic hawks to perch on rooftops. more ›

While New York is very urban, there are still many places where you can see some wilderness. Here's a list of the Parks Department's 48 Forever Wild Nature Preserves, which total over "8,700 acres of towering forests, vibrant wetlands, and expansive meadows" and include "flying squirrels, bald eagles, and fascinating rare plants." Flying squirrels! more ›