Events at the Nest (3/17/19 - 3/23/19)
Posted Mar. 18, 2019 (Updated Mar. 28, 2019)
Mar. 17
(I did a quick check-in early in the morning that ended at 7:07 AM.)
At 6:44 AM, the male hawk was seen at the nest incubating the egg. The female hawk was there prior to that, so they must have made a switch (which I missed) a couple minutes before.
According to the hawk cam chat messages that I saw, the female hawk was on at 12:14 PM and before. She had made a shift change with the male hawk prior to that. There was also another shift change before 12:34 PM where the male hawk had switched with the female hawk.
(I joined the livestream again at 1:19 PM.)
At 1:19 PM, there was no one at the nest but the egg.
At 1:21 PM, the male hawk flew to the nest and a minute later, he flew off with a half-eaten rat or pigeon. (I don't know if it was already on the nest or if he came in with it and took it off immediately.)
At 1:24 PM, the male hawk came back to go incubate the egg.
At 2:07 PM, the male hawk flies off the nest. Two minutes later, the female hawk arrives at the nest.
At 3:13 PM, the female hawk leaves. Two minutes later, the male hawk arrives.
At around 3:46 PM, the male hawk gets up to move a stick and then fly off the nest. At 3:48 PM, the female hawk arrives.
At 4:23 PM, the female hawk leaves. At 4:29 PM, the male hawk arrives.
At 5:39 PM, the female hawk flies onto the ledge. The male hawk soon gets up and flies off.
At around 6:57 PM, the female hawk may have left and the male hawk was on the nest with a rat before leaving.
At 7:05 PM, the male hawk comes back to take over incubation duties. He stayed there past sunset and into the night, which normally doesn't happen. For hawks, the female hawk is the one who stays on the nest overnight, while the male hawk is the one who sleeps away from the nest but still has a good view of it. Chat members who have been here since the first year have said that they don't think that they've ever seen this happen before.
As of 1:06 AM, he is still on the nest, sleeping and incubating the egg.
(I stopped watching at 1:06 AM.)
Mar. 18
(I joined the livestream at 3:02 PM.)
The male hawk was arranging a stick on the nest at the time.
It was reported that the female hawk had returned to the nest at 7:11 AM.
It was also reported that the second egg had been laid at around 1:27 PM.
At 3:21 PM, the male hawk started tugging at the white rope on the nest. At 3:34 PM, he tried to get at some small twigs. At 3:37 PM, he tried to move a branch near the office window. At 3:40 PM, he went back to incubating the eggs.
At 3:52 PM, the male hawk flies off. At 3:54 PM, both hawks fly onto the ledge (the male first, the female second). The male hawk stays for a couple seconds before flying off again.
At 3:56 PM, the female hawk moved around some of the brown strands on the nest.
At 4:06 PM, the male hawk flew in with a light brown paper bag and left after putting it down. The female hawk picked it up and tried to figure out how to place it within the nest bowl with the two eggs there. She just placed it down and then went on to incubate the eggs. At 4:40 PM, she got up to try to move the paper bag again.
At around 5:39 PM or a little bit before, the male hawk arrived and tried to rearrange the branch near the window. The female joined him in rearranging sticks around the nest. At 5:43 PM, the male hawk left, while the female hawk continued with the nest rearrangement. She went to move the brown strands and the paper bag.
There may have been another switch where the female hawk left with a small mouse that the male hawk brought. The female hawk later came back, maybe around or before 7:17 PM.
The female hawk was here to stay on the nest at night today. She got up several times to readjust the position of the paper bag.
Some viewers commented that she may have decided to spend the night away from the nest yesterday because she was feeling restless from the egg that she had laid today.
Previously, on March 13, 2019, she had almost stayed overnight for the first time this nesting season, but she later left. Two days later, she laid her first egg this year. This time, on March 17, 2019, she stayed away from the nest at night, while the male hawk filled in for her. The next day, she laid her second egg. From these observations, some viewers feel that if the female hawk decides to spend more time away from the nest at night, it will likely mean another egg is on the way.
Mar. 19
(I joined the livestream at around 11:39 AM.)
At the time, there was no one on the nest, but the male hawk soon flew in.
At 12:40 PM, the male hawk left and a minute later, the female hawk arrived. At 12:43 PM, the male hawk returns with a small branch, while the female hawk leaves. The male hawk went on to arrange it onto the nest.
At 1:34 PM, the male hawk left. At 1:37 PM, the female hawk arrived, but didn't go to incubate the eggs just yet. At 1:40 PM, the male hawk arrives with a worn rope-like material, places it in the nest bowl, and then leaves. At 1:44 PM, the female hawk walks near the nest bowl, picks up the new rope, and puts it back down. After that, she goes to incubate the eggs.
At 1:46 PM, the male hawk comes in with a thinner, string-like material, causing the female hawk to get up again. A minute later, they both leave (the female first, the male second). At 1:53 PM, the male hawk returns and rearranges a bit before and while incubating.
At 2:35 PM, the male hawk leaves. At 2:40 PM, the female hawk arrives.
At around 4:09 PM, the male hawk arrives and the female hawk leaves.
At 5:32 PM, the male hawk attempts to use his beak to try to move or break apart some of the sticks in front of him.
At around 5:35 PM, the male hawk left and a minute later, the female hawk arrived.
That may have been the last shift change for the day. The female hawk stayed on the nest tonight.
Mar. 20
(I joined the livestream at 12:03 PM.)
The male hawk was currently on the nest.
At 12:06 PM, the male hawk left and then came back after about two minutes.
At 12:30 PM, the male hawk left. At 12:36 PM, the female hawk arrived.
At around 12:46 PM, the male hawk had visited the nest and soon left.
Sometime between 1:43 PM and 1:56 PM, the male hawk had made a switch with the female hawk.
At 2:34 PM, the male hawk left. At 2:37 PM, the female hawk arrived.
At 3:10 PM, the female hawk left. At 3:32 PM, she comes back and goes to incubate the eggs. At 3:33 PM, the male hawk arrived and stayed for about a minute before leaving.
At 4:52 PM, the male hawk arrived, the female hawk left, and the male hawk left with her. At 4:53 PM, he came back to incubate the eggs.
Around or a bit before 5:55 PM, the male hawk had left. At 5:58 PM, the female hawk arrived.
At around 6:26 PM, the male hawk made a very quick visit to the nest and left.
At 7:15 PM, the male hawk arrived and went to move a stick. The female hawk got up and started helping with moving sticks. At 7:17 PM, the male hawk left, but the female hawk continued to rearrange some sticks and branches before she started sitting again. After she sat, she started tugging at the rope and some sticks in front of her.
The female hawk stayed on the nest into the night.
Mar. 21
(I joined the livestream at 1:11 PM.)
The female hawk was on the nest at that time.
It was a rainy day in New York.
Around 2 PM, the female was getting up from sitting several times. When she got up at around 2:08 PM, there were three eggs in the nest.
(I left the livestream at around 3 PM and came back two hours later.)
The female hawk was still on the nest at that time, but it's unknown if she and the male hawk had made any switches.
At 5:05 PM, the male hawk arrived and the female hawk left.
At 7:05 PM, the male hawk got up, ruffled his feathers, and left at 7:06 PM. The female arrived right after he left.
Mar. 22
(I joined the livestream at 11:23 AM.)
The female hawk was on the nest at the time.
It had been raining earlier, and it was windy throughout the day as the wind blew the feathers of the hawks as they were sitting on the nest.
It's unknown if the female hawk and the male hawk made any switches between 12:25 PM and 1:48 PM.
At 2:06 PM, the male hawk flew in and tried to move some straw-like material on the nest. The female hawk got up from sitting. The hawks tried to maintain their balance as the wind blew against them while they were both on the nest. At 2:07 PM, the male hawk goes to incubate the eggs, while the female hawk left.
At 2:25 PM, the male hawk left and soon returned.
At 3:32 PM, there was a wind gust that shook the camera for a bit. The male hawk was trying to tuck some small strands of material into the nest bowl and also tried to pull at some of the sticks that were near him.
At some point between 3:55 PM and 4:21 PM, the male hawk made a switch with the female hawk.
At around 4:59 PM, the female hawk was trying to move and/or break a thin branch on the nest.
At 5:11 PM, the male hawk brought a stick to the nest and left.
Sometime before or around 5:57 PM, the female hawk made a switch with the male hawk.
At 5:58 PM, the male hawk left. At 6:13 PM, the female hawk arrived and rearranged some sticks before she sat down.
At 6:29 PM, the male hawk made a brief appearance on the nest and left.
The female hawk stayed on the nest at night.
Mar. 23
(I checked in on the livestream at 12:29 PM.)
The male hawk was on the nest at the time.
(I left and checked in again at 6:01 PM.)
The female hawk was on the nest, but it's unknown how many times they had switched up until this point. She was reportedly on the nest at 5:13 PM also, so at least one shift change happened sometime before then.
At 7:26 PM, the male hawk arrived, but soon left. It appears that he was checking in on the female hawk for the last time of the day.
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(All times are reported in the Eastern Time Zone.)