Ravenswood red-tailed hawk rescued

From CBS New York:

A hawk was rescued, rehabbed and released in Queens Tuesday, after getting stuck inside the Ravenswood Generating Station.

The red-tailed hawk was found on Friday inside the power plant along the East River in Long Island City, Queens.

The hawk got stuck in a turbine exhaust room, CBS2 was told.

Rescue crews named the bird Rambo.

Baby hawk returned to Unisphere

Interesting photos:

Hawk baby rescued and returned to Unisphere facebook.com/media/set/?set…
— Save FlushingMeadows (@SaveFMCP) June 10, 2013

WINORR was threatened with eviction from its HQ on Long Island until the town changed it's mind, so it's a good thing they were around. It's also nice to see someone working to protect the wildlife in the park instead of selling their habitat to the highest bidder.

Red-tailed hawks near Rufus King Park

From DNA Info:

Seven years ago, when Thomas Crater looked through the bedroom window of his sixth-floor apartment in Jamaica, he saw a big bird sitting on his fire escape.

“At first I thought it was an owl,” he said.

The unusually large bird, which turned out to be a red-tailed hawk, was sitting and watching the surrounding buildings and streets from the rail on the top floor. The raptor must have liked the location and has continued coming back, keeping Crater company.

Last fall, the bird, now even bigger, found a mate and the pair hangs out on his fire escape on 164th Street, near 89th Avenue, about seven blocks from the popular Rufus King Park, where the hawks have also been spotted.

It’s a love-hate relationship, jokes Crater, who said he both admires and fears the birds. He watches them with a wary respect as they sit on his fire escape for up to an hour, searching for prey below.

Hawks are everywhere

From the Daily News:

A group of amateur bird watchers was treated to a spectacular air show last Sunday, courtesy of a hawk couple that calls Astoria home.

The red-tailed hawks, named Atlas and Andromeda by their faithful fans, soared through the air, snacked on a bird and fed their hungry chicks. The pair make their home along the side of the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge.

"Hawks exist all over the city, but many people just don't know they are there," said Urban Park Ranger Eric Handy, who led the program for the city Parks Department. "They are just a beautiful sight to see."

They are also a natural form of rodent control, feasting on rats and mice.

With the help of a spotting scope, participants were able to get a bird's-eye view of the feathered couple as they went about their daily business.

While many New Yorkers may only be familiar with the city's omnipresent pigeon and sparrow population, the five boroughs are full of wildlife. Red-tailed hawks and falcons make their nests among buildings, trees and other tall structures, including bridges and even the Unisphere in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.

FDNY saves Queens Blvd hawk

Adrian hogs the spotlight

From Gothamist:

[Yesterday] Parks & Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benepe released a red-tailed hawk who was rescued and rehabilitated over the summer. The six-month-old bird of prey's nest fell off an air-conditioning unit (seriously, those things are dangerous if magical) and some bird lovers scooped him up and took him to a licensed falconer. The male hawk's return to the wild witnessed by Urban Park Rangers, Bobby Horvath of Wildlife in Need of Rescue and Rehabilitation (who helped care for the hawk) and first and second graders from P.S. 83 and the Dalton School.

Apparently, Mr. Benepe "forgot" to invite the folks who actually helped rescue the hawk - not to mention thank those who created the opportunity for him to try to get some positive publicity.

The collaborative effort included three South Bronx residents - Lee Rivera, Danny Chervoni and Friends of Brook Park president Harry Bubbins, two Brook Park volunteers, Geoffrey Croft of NYC Park Advocates and lots of good-old-fashioned South Bronx goodwill along the way.

But this is what we can expect from a guy who slaps his name on the side of tree removal contractors' trucks.

Triboro hawks have grown up fast

From Urban Hawks:

Before I went on vacation, I went by and saw the freshly hatched eyasses nesting on the Astoria side of the RFK Triboro Bridge. I finally got back to see how they were doing on Saturday. The two of them looked great.

They look healthy and very grown up. Their tails need to grow in before they'll be flying off, but they'll be leaving the nest soon.

Baby hawks ready to leave Unisphere

From 10000 Birds:

The two surviving eyasses at the Unisphere in Corona Flushing Meadows Park are doing well. They look ready to fledge. For information about what happened earlier this season, see Peter Richer's Queens Raptor blog.

And a pair of Peregrine Falcons were relocated from Queens to the Verrazano Bridge.

Happy Mothers Day from Queens Crap

This was the scene last night on a ledge high above Queens:

A mama hawk was protecting her babies from the wind.

The Live HawkCam can be viewed here.

Firefighter incubating Astoria hawk eggs

From the Daily News:

Firefighter Bobby Horvath rushed into the city when he got the awful news about Athena - but it was too late.

The plucky red-tailed hawk he had nursed back to health when she was poisoned three years ago could not cheat death twice, and couldn't be saved after being hit by a car near her Astoria nest late last month.

It was after 4 p.m. when Horvath learned Athena had died, and he knew it was a race against time to save her eggs, in which the embryos would likely not survive a chilly March night.

The eggs are tucked into a specially designed incubator at Horvath's Massapequa, L.I., home, and are due to hatch in little more than a week.

Horvath said he has his fingers crossed the eggs will hatch, so Athena can live on through her offspring.

"There's no guarantee, but Mother Nature works in strange ways," he said.

Dinner is served...

How'd you like to see this outside your window? A lady in Sunnyside had such an experience...

Looks like this was taken from one of the new condo projects on Queens Blvd.

Courtesy of Citybirder.