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INTRO: A crowd gathered in Riverside Park this morning to see a young pair of red-tailed hawks, at work building their first nest. Molly Messick reports.
NARR: When there's a new pair of red-tailed hawks in the city, the news travels fast. City birders email and call, and come with binoculars in hand. But often the first to notice are dog walkers. Avi, who didn't want to give his last name, was out this morning with his dog, Google. He first spotted one of the hawks just recently.
TAPE: AVI
I FIRST SAW IT ABOUT TWO WEEKS AGO, AND IT WAS WONDERFUL BECAUSE IT LEFT THE NEST AND IT FLEW INTO THE CENTRAL PART OF RIVERSIDE HERE. OH LOOK HE'S COMING OUT. HE'S FLYING UP. LOOK AT THE RED TAIL! WHAT A VIEW! (:21)
NARR: Avi stands in Riverside Park, on the west side of Manhattan, staring at a honey locust tree on the other side of the 79th Street entrance to the West Side highway. In the branches is an ungainly mass of twigs. It's nearly three feet wide. That's the nest. The pair of hawks that's building it is young, and new to the area. Locals have wondered how wise the birds are, to balance a huge nest on a slender branch reaching over a busy entrance ramp, but New York birdwatcher Jean Dane says it's probably as good a place as any.
TAPE: JEAN DANE
THE FACT THAT IT'S ON TOP OF AN ON RAMP, THE ONLY THING I WORRY ABOUT IS THEIR LUNGS, I MEAN… I THINK IT'S PROBABLY NOT ALL THAT GREAT BREATHING ALL THOSE FUMES ALL THE TIME. (:11)
NARR: Dane says this nest, and one spotted on Houston Street this week, make a total of eight in the city. New York's most famous hawks are Pale Male and Lola, who nest on the ledge of a Fifth Avenue apartment building. So far, this new pair's neighbors seem pleased. They joke that the birds shop at Zabar's, too, and like the neighborhood for its good public schools.
(AMBI: PHOTO CLICKS)
NARR: Amateur photographer Lincoln Karim crouches in the rose bushes near the on ramp. The female of the pair has just swooped from the honey locust to another tree nearby. She has an impressive wingspan - close to three feet.
Karim said he had come every day, since he heard about these new hawks. He has his own website, full of photos of Pale Male. This morning he's armed with his tripod and a long telephoto lens. He says the best way to learn about hawks is to watch them.
(AMBI: PHOTO CLICKS)
TAPE: LINCOLN KARIM
I ALWAYS THOUGHT THEY WENT STRAIGHT TO THE TREE, PEELED BARK OFF AND TAKE IT TO THE NEST. THEY DON'T DO THAT. THEY STRIP IT AND LET IT DRY IN THE SUN. AND WHEN IT BECOMES FIBROUS AND LIGHT, THEN THEY TAKE IT TO THE NEST. (:13)
NARR: The birds are active this morning, making dramatic swoops overhead. Their feathers shine white and red against the blue sky. The female comes to rest in a tree.
TAPE: JEAN DANE
SHE'S DOING THIS THING WITH HER FOOT THAT THEY DO VERY OFTEN - PERCH ON ONE FOOT AND PULL THE OTHER ONE UP UNDERNEATH THE FEATHERS.
MESSICK: SO IS SHE JUST RESTING?
DANE: YEP, AND SOAKING UP SOME VITAMIN D. (:14)
NARR: Soon the male joins her on the branch. He sits next to her.
TAPE: DANE
(LAUGHING) OH THAT'S VERY COOL. IT'S A LITTLE TO NOISY TO TELL, BUT HE MAY BE MAKING SQUEAKING NOISES SAYING - HONEY, MAY I? ARE YOU INTERESTED? (:16)
NARR: As it turns out, we don't have long to wait.
(SOUND OF BIRD SQUAWKING)
DANE: WOW, THERE HE IS!
(MORE BIRD NOISE
DANE: LAUGHS.
MESSICK: SO THAT WAS HIM?
DANE: YEP, THAT WAS HAWK SEX. (:19)
NARR: Dane says the female of this pair could lay eggs any day. She'll stop roosting in trees, and spend her night on the nest. If all goes well, the eggs with hatch in May. The young birds - Dane calls them kids - will make their first flights in early June.
Molly Messick, Columbia Radio News.