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Thursday, April 06, 2006

Brooklyn Red-tailed Hawk timeline

The soap opera that is the life of Brooklyn's resident Red-tailed Hawks is, at times, a little confusing. To try and clarify the breeding, divorces, etc., I have created a simple timeline.

Approx. 1989 - 2004
Green-Wood Cemetery: Annual nest near Beech Ave.

1996
Prospect Park: One pair in Quaker Cemetery within the park boundaries.

2002
Prospect Park: Big Mama & Split-tails builds first nest. Low nest in a linden tree above crosswalk at 3rd Street playground.
Quaker Cemetery: Pair nesting at top of pine tree. Near where I observed my first nesting pair.
Green-Wood Cemetery: Annual nest active.

2003
Prospect Park: Big Mama & Split-tail move nest to a beech tree in the north zoo woods. 2 of 3 hatchlings develop frounce. One dies, one survives but is unreleasable.
Prospect Park: Quaker Cemetery pine tree pair moves nest to the top of a pine tree in the Ravine.
Green-Wood Cemetery: Annual nest active.

2004
Prospect Park: Big Mama & Split-tail move nest to tulip tree on Payne Hill. Juvenile with unusually dark face observed being attacked by adult hawks.
Prospect Park: Ravine pine tree pair return to nest for second year.
Green-Wood Cemetery: Annual nest active.

2005
Prospect Park: Big Mama & Split-tail begin work on tulip tree nest. A young male appears and competes with Split-tail. All three hawks eventually vanish from the park.
Prospect Park: Ravine pine tree pair return to nest for third year.
Green-Wood Cemetery: Nest building commenced then female found dead in the Dell Water. In December a "new", very large female appears in cemetery. Three Red-tailed Hawks observed hanging around cemetery.

2006
Prospect Park: Ravine pine tree pair return to nest for fourth year.
Green-Wood Cemetery: Smallish, probably male, hawk found dead in Dell Water. The remaining pair begin to use annual nest. Female is extremely large and is, likely, Big Mama. I visited the cemetery and identified the male as the young, dark-faced bird from 2004. I will try to confirm Big Mama's identification with photos.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

ROB J. PLEASE PLEASE GET IN TOUCH WITH ME ASAP - I AM TRYING TO DO A STORY ON THE RED TAILED HAWKS IN NY TODAY, TUESDAY APRIL 18 - AND THERE IS NO WAY TO CONTACT YOU HERE AND I DON'T KNOW YOUR LAST NAME. THIS IS FOR THE WEATHER CHANNEL. PLEASE CONTACT: NYCWEATHERKAM@AOL.COM. THANK YOU.

Anonymous said...

IF ANYONE ELSE HAS VIDEO/PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE HAWKS ON 5TH AVENUE, PLEASE EMAIL: NYCWEATHERKAM@AOL.COM ASAP - STORY NEEDS TO BE PUT TOGETHER THIS AFTERNOON, TUESDAY APRIL 18.

Rob Jett said...

Try:

http://www.palemale.com/