Brooklyn Hawks Update

I finally had a chance to check out the progress at the Red-tailed Hawks nests in Prospect Park and Green-Wood Cemetery.

Big Mama and Junior's massive nest in a towering linden tree in Green-Wood Cemetery has survived the snow storms and high winds of the last month and a half. The pair is now incubating eggs as of approximately one week ago. Marge witnessed an exchange at their nest last week.

Last week Peter texted me from Prospect Park when he saw activity at the Ravine pine tree nest. That would be the annual nest for the pair I call Alice and Ralph. When I checked it out earlier this week, I saw Alice sitting in the nest. Quite a few trees have blown down in the vicinity of their nest and I'm hoping that, when the trees leaf out this year, viewing will be a little easier. This will be the ninth consecutive year that they have nested in the Ravine.

Farther north in the park, at Nelly's Lawn, last year's newly weds are using that nest for the second time. It has also been about a week since Nelly and Max have begun incubating eggs. While I was watching the nest, Max flew in to give a break to his mate. As he settled down on the nest, Nelly took off, but only flew as far as Elizabeth's tuliptree. It is a favorite perch for the pair and where last year's three fledglings spent a lot of time after leaving the nest. Here's a short video of the exchange at the nest earlier this week (sorry about the crappy quality):