Red-tailed hawks are very common in New York City. I see them soaring and swooping every day. Recently, I’ve had the pleasure of watching them up close. This is my Hawk Watch Blog.
On April 16 of last year, a hawk laid an egg on our fire escape with no nest. She must have been young and had no idea what to do. I called a couple of organizations that handle wild birds but they were at a loss as to what was going on. It was very odd behavior they said but there was no need for them to come and collect the egg.
Soon after, she laid a second egg but after a few days, she rolled both of them off the fire escape and, sadly, I saw the broken eggs on the ground below.
March 11, 2026
Hawks often return to the same nest year after year and today I found several twigs on my fire escape. It could be the beginning of a nest. If it is the same pair, I just hope they have a better idea what to do this time around.
March 17
Over the past week, more twigs appeared on our fire escape. Convinced that it would become a hawk nest, we set up a Blink camera which alerted us to their movements and videotaped short clips. This allows us to keep a safe distance away and not frighten them. Because the nest was in deep shadow most of the time, I took screen shots and lightened and cropped them to see details better. Unfortunately, we cannot mount the camera on the outside of the building, so all the photos are through our window which gets dirtier each time it rains. We dare not open the window to clean it because it would disturb the hawks and the nest.
The nest is slowly taking shape. The hawks only bring a couple of twigs each day and do not stay. I worry that, at this rate, the nest won’t be ready in time. They are probably first-time nest builders assuming these are the same hawks from last year. They bring twigs to the fire escape and because the slats are far apart, the twigs fall to the ground. This is concerning to me. People are not supposed to intervene or disturb any hawk nest, but I do not want to see more hawk eggs on the ground. I want these chicks to have a chance, so when the hawks left, I put a couple of evergreen branches on the nest to help cover the gap between the metal slats of the fire escape. They will either use them or toss them off the nest.
The Blink camera works very well, maybe even too well. It alerts me to every movement even though it is set to the least sensitive setting. Sometimes I unarm the system when the notifications are too numerous which means I risk missing something. I realized today that when setting up the Blink camera, I forgot to turn off the indicator lights and here the female spots the camera:
I think she’s really cute!
March 18
My decision to put a couple of evergreen branches on the nest paid off. The hawks began collecting evergreen branches and placing them at the bottom of the nest which will cover the gaps and provide a cushion for her while she incubates the eggs. It can take up to 35 days for the eggs to hatch.
March 19
Here are some shots of them building the nest. Both the male and female build the nest but the male does the majority of the work. Here he wrestled with these twigs for a while before he was satisfied with their placement. It must be hard work with only a beak and talons to build a nest.
March 20
Hawks eat small mammals and birds. Here you can see a bit of red by her leg. After she left, I took a photo of her meal, a small bird.
Female hawks are usually larger than the males but it is hard for me to tell if she is larger than her mate. Her coloring is lighter than his, which is the only way I can tell them apart.
March 21
Something is happening—the male seems very concerned. He brings her a twig.
An egg! I’m so excited!
My excitement quickly changed to worry. The hawks are not incubating the egg. They seem unsure of what to do.
March 22-23
On Saturday night and Sunday morning the weather was cold, windy and rainy. It was only in the mid-40’s. Sadly, the hawks did not keep the egg warm and it is likely that the egg is no longer viable.
March 24
She occasionally sits on the egg, but the damage has probably been done. The male still brings twigs to build up the nest. I am wondering if there will be another egg.
March 25
Eureka! Another egg. I hope this one remains viable.
March 25-29
They have been diligent parents-to-be for the last few days. She has been almost constantly on the eggs and he brings sticks to shore up the nest.
Uh-oh, she caught me peeking. I try to be very careful not to let her see me, but sometimes she turns around and spots me.
March 29
They still seem a bit perplexed by the eggs or maybe they expected them to hatch by now.
March 30
The hawks’ behavior seems almost human at times. Here’s a funny clip of a slight disagreement they have about the placement of a twig.
April 2
Yesterday and this morning, the female hawk sat in the nest all alone. I did not see the male at all until late this afternoon. In this video, she gets up and I was surprised to say the least. You will be too.
When she gets up, you can see that there are no eggs! There wasn’t even a piece of a shell or anything on the ground below.
In this clip, the male is obviously as confused as you and I. He walks around the nest looking for the eggs.
April 2-3
The female hawk disappeared about 3:45 p.m. and was gone all night. I worry that she won’t come back, that she was tired of being hungry and alone and that she didn’t realize she had to spend over a month sitting on the eggs. The male was also MIA. The hawks may have abandoned the nest.
I left the camera armed all night so I would get a notification if either hawk flew back onto the nest. At 6:49 a.m. the male appeared but there was no sign of the female. He spent a good amount of time working on the nest and brought a mouse. She appeared and sat on the rail. He took the mouse and flew away.
April 3-4
The nest has remained empty most of the time. Yesterday late afternoon, the female would fly onto the rail, look at the nest and fly away. Today, the male visited the nest many times, looked around and flew away. Perhaps they have given up. What happened to the eggs? There are owls in the city and they are known to steal hawk eggs but they also take over nests and that didn’t happen here. Not knowing will bother me and I regret not having the Blink camera on all day and night. She had been so diligent about sitting on the nest, I did not think the eggs would disappear or could get stolen.
Here, one of them flies right up to the window and looks inside. I wonder if she thinks we took the eggs.
April 5
There has been no sign of them since early yesterday afternoon. My husband took advantage of their disappearance and cleaned the window. If the hawks return, we’ll have a clearer view of them. Late in the day, the male returned several times with some twigs.
April 6
I read that hawks will remove their eggs from the nest if they are damaged or dead. The first egg was likely not viable but I did not see that there would be a problem with the second. But if it were damaged, then maybe she removed the eggs herself. I also read that if a hawk lays a clutch of eggs early in the season, then there could be a second clutch later on.
This morning, both hawks returned and were building up the nest. It looks much more substantial.
He brings her something to eat and she flies off with it
April 7 early afternoon
The male is working steadily on the nest bringing larger twigs. No sign of the female yet.
April 8
There was more work on the nest this morning but they spent the day somewhere else. I repositioned the camera in front the nest. If there are more eggs and they hatch, this will be a better vantage point.
April 10
This morning the female showed up to check on the progress of the nest. She didn’t stay long but the male worked all morning.
April 13
They spent the weekend building up the nest and the female has been spending more time here. I sit across the room from the window, about 11 feet away and let them see me. The female seems curious but the male may be very protective. Today he hit the window a few times but I don’t know if he’s seeing me or his reflection. When he sits on the rail and looks at me, he’s seems fine. Here, our handsome male is keeping an eye on me.
April 15
It’s hot out today—already 84° around noon. Our male hawk has been visiting the nest all morning, looking for his mate. He is keeping cool by breathing through his beak and keeping his wings away from his body. The male did not seem to like the new camera position, so I moved it back to it’s original location and covered it with black tape to make it less noticeable.
April 19
It’s Sunday and the female has not been here for a full week. I worry that something may have happened to her. Since they eat rats, I worry that she might have met the same terrible end that befell Flaco the owl that had New Yorkers mesmerized in 2024. The rats ingest rat poison and the raptor population, which feeds on the rats, ingest the poison and die. I hope she is okay. The male came by for a few minutes each day except Friday and Saturday to work on the nest. I was very concerned when I did not see him those days, thinking something happened to the female and he had given up. Today he showed up, still working on the nest. Fingers crossed that all is well.
April 20
Right after I posted yesterday, the female showed up! Today they are both working on the nest. She looks quite a bit larger now. All this is a very good sign that there may be another clutch of eggs. She likely spent the last week fattening up. Female hawks will increase their body mass in the weeks before laying eggs. The extra weight helps provide nutrients and energy to form the eggs and to sustain the female while she incubates the eggs.
April 22
Terrible news came today. A NYC building inspector spotted the nest and it must be taken down. I will call someone tomorrow but it can only be saved if it is an active nest, meaning there are eggs or fledglings. I pray she lays some eggs by tomorrow morning. I am beyond sad.
April 23
After several phone calls, I am still unsure of what to do about the nest. Some say don’t touch it because red-tailed hawks are protected. Some say the nest is only protected if there are eggs or fledglings in it. Strangely, the male has only been here once today and not until the early afternoon. I read that hawks will build more than one nest and the female will choose one. Maybe that is why she hasn’t been around—she may prefer another location. I hope that is the case, because if this one has to be removed, at least they will have another nest.
May 3
It has taken me several days to come back to talk about the hawks. Regrettably, I had to take down the nest and got approval from New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Because there were no eggs or chicks, it was permitted. I suspect that either there was another nest that the female preferred or she just wasn’t interested in procreating. The male came back once after the nest was gone and deposited a rat on the fire escape. Later in the day it was gone. I haven’t seen either hawk since.
Maybe next year.
This photo was taken April 25th. He seems to be saying, “Look honey, like this”. She is showing absolutely no interest.