Tompkins Square Drama

An update to this blog posting, 8:30 April 4: Dora was picked up in Tompkins Square Park today, April 4, and returned to rehab at WINORR. There is a possibility Christo already has a new female in the nest, for he was seen mating with another female hawk while Dora was in the car. There is concern that if Christo and the new female have eggs and bond over them, Dora will be forced out if she is returned to the park.

When Dora, the resident female red-tailed hawk in Tompkins Square Park, went to rehab at WINORR in November for a wing injury, Christo seemed a bit lost, not knowing where she was. He eventually took up with another adult female and was courting her and mating with her. Dora returned to the park after rehab at the end of February, and after a rocky start, she regained her nest and her mate, and they have been mating regularly and building the nest. For a fantastic history of the drama, see Laura Goggin's blog.

I visited the park on March 24 to check out the pair, and then visited again on April 2. When we arrived on the 2nd, Dora had just been in a fight with another adult red-tailed hawk (apparently not the female Christo had been mating with, nor Christo himself, but a new hawk who had been in the nest). Dora won the fight, but seemed very shocky afterward. We saw her on a low branch near the dog run, and we watched as Christo came in to mate with her, and then as she flew in short bursts from tree to tree before going into the nest. She mated at least two more times, and Christo fed her.

Christo on top of Dora, mating, Tompkins Square Park, April 2

The Chasing the Hawks video shows the pair on March 24 and April 2. To skip to April 2 to see Dora and her behavior after the fight, go to minute 6:37.

These photos were taken on March 24.

Dora on the nest, March 24

Christo, March 24, Tompkins Square Park

Dora on April 2, showing her wonky wing.

Oh, Rats! Let's Hope the Dry Ice Works

Following up on my posting of July 5, The Rat Patrol in Tompkins Square Park, there has been some recent publicity about the use of dry ice in the city parks to control the rats.

A Tompkins Square Park "baby" hanging out on a fence, July 27, 2016.

A story on July 25 by The New York Daily News, New York City Hopes to Solve Rat Problem With Dry Ice, quotes the wonderful Laura Goggin, who does such brilliant work chronicling the Tompkins Square Park red-tailed hawks on her blog. The article notes that the city is experimenting with dry ice in the parks.

City Health Dept. Hopes Dry Ice Can Eliminate Its Rodent Problem, on the NY1.com Web site on July 27, notes that the dry ice has reduced the rats in Columbus Park in Chinatown. I was interviewed for the video, but was cut out (no problem!), but you can see a little snippet of me in my pink top and Yankees cap. The interview with Sharron Crocker made it into the report, and she cogently adds the hawk-chaser perspective. 

As I noted in my blog posting, rat poison is a less-than-effective way of controlling rodents, but is so terribly lethal to our red-tailed hawks, pets and other wildlife. I commend the New York City Department of Health for trying a different solution, and the New York City Parks Department for trying to keep poison out of the parks. According to the NY1 report, the dry ice seems to be working.

When I was in Tompkins Square Park on July 26, Christo (the male red-tailed hawk parent) caught and ate a rat. I'll be posting video soon, but here's a still photo. This is what scares us so much — that the hawks will eat a poisoned rat and we will lose these magnificent birds.

Christo eating a rat in Tompkins Square Park, July 26, 2016.

Tompkins Square Park, July 27, 2016.

Tompkins Square Park, July 27, 2016.

I'll be posting more Tompkins Square Park videos soon. In the meantime, here's Part V of the July With the Tompkins Square Hawks series. It covers the afternoon I spent there on July 14. It's long (of course), but just skip around and enjoy these awesome animals.