Cathedral Papa brings supper

The Cathedral of St. John the Divine's Papa redtail delivering a mouse to yet-unseen babies. Note the resemblance to Pale Male.

The bowl of the nest is deep and the nestlings are not yet big enough to be seen by their eager fans. Soon! But photos like the one above, taken on Thursday, May 3, by BRUCE YOLTON, give proof [through the day and night] that the babies are there.

This picturesque nest is tucked behind the arm of a monumental statue of St. Andrew of the Diagonal Cross,. The statue may be found among a row of others on the Cathedral's northern facade on 113th Street, between Amsterdam Avenue and Morningside Ave.

Though these hawks hunt in Morningside Park, not Central Park, it is one of the neighboring redtail nests featured here this year, in the sad absence of nestlings of our own. At 927 Fifth Ave, Pale Male and Lola continue to sit on their nest and will probably do so for another few weeks. Meanwhile, plans to retrieve the eggs for microscopic analysis continue to progress. I hope it will happen soon.


If you're not in danger of webcam addiction, check out the Queens redtails at http://www.jknaturegallery.com

More news soon about the Inwood Hill, Highbridge, and Fordham redtails. Flash! It looks like there are nestlings at a new location -- Green-Wood Cemetery. You can check those out on Rob Jett's excellent website http://www.citybirder.blogspot.com

PS The explosion of urban redtails around here is nothing short of amazing. I'm sure there are other local nests I haven't included in this round-up.