Saturday, March 7, 2020

Officially on egg watch now in Tompkins Square Park


[Photos by Steven]

The egg watch clock (don't forget to set it ahead one hour tonight) is on in Tompkins Square Park for the resident red-tailed hawks, Amelia and Christo.

Goggla has been keeping tabs on the two. From a post earlier this week:

I wasn't positive of the situation until I returned to the park at sunrise this morning and found Christo laying down in the nest and Amelia perched nearby. He came out for a few minutes and they mated, then returned to the nest with tree bark. At that point, Amelia laid back down in the nest and remained there for most of the day. I saw them trade places twice, which is classic brooding behavior.

Hawks usually lay 1-3 eggs over the span of a few days. After the first egg is laid, they will continue to leave the nest to mate, but Amelia will stay in the nest through the night. Last year, Amelia appeared to lay her first egg March 13, so they are early this year. However, I'm not really surprised as they completed their nest in January and have been mating regularly over the last few weeks. Incubation will take about six weeks, so a hatch time would be mid to late April.

Meanwhile, here's a bonus shot from Steven of Christo gathering materials to fortify the nest...



Not sure of the enhancements in store for the nest — we didn't spot any posted work permits ...