Hawks and Architecture: A Red-tailed Hawk Tour of Washington Square

Many locals in Greenwich Village experienced big bird drama in early June as three baby red-tailed hawks took their first flights from their home ledge on NYU's Bobst Library in Washington Square. The first one fledged on May 31, an event I missed and that apparently produced much nervous excitement. The remaining two young hawks took off on Sunday, June 2, one in the early morning and another nearly twelve hours later. I saw some of it.

June 2, 2013 9:10 am Washington Square North. Parents and fledgling. Bobby (left), Rosie (middle), and fledgling (right, obscured by the tree branch).

June 2, 2013 10:39 a.m. Rosie is now perched on NYU's Silver Center for Arts and Science, one of the focal points for hawk activity on Washington Square East. Built in 1895 by NYU for academic and commercial purposes, the lower floors once housed The American Bank Note Company.

June 2, 2013 11:13 a.m. While watching the fledgling on Washington Square North, hawk watchers heard the cries of the one that fledged a few days previously. Then, we looked up and saw it perched on the circular ladder structure on top of the Silver Building.

June 2, 2013 11:33 a.m. The second fledgling continued to explore Washington Square North, landing on a window ledge at #3. This is no ordinary row house. The building was the longtime home of American painter Edward Hopper, who lived here from 1913 until the day he died in 1967.

Our human instinct is to wish young birds to soar high, as I suppose we project onto birds our dreams of flight and freedom and transcendent perspective. I think this would be especially true in the context of New York City, where inherent dangers lurk low on the pavement. Imagine, then, young red-tailed hawks, noble birds of prey, taking their first steps off a high window ledge. But instead of swooping up to the top of an Art Deco New York skyscraper, as we would fantasize in our big city dreams for them, they end up landing flat on their feathery young backs on a hard New York sidewalk or somehow flopping around on the windshield of a police vehicle or awkwardly landing in a bush or on a park bench during a crowded festival. Watching big young birds negotiate the hustle and bustle of New York for the first time is not for the faint of heart.

June 2, 2013 6:56 p.m. Sweet angel, this is not a good place for you! Fledgling #3 reportedly had a bumpy sidewalk landing shortly after 6 p.m. but then managed to flap/fly to a park bench nearby in Washington Square Park.

But, like everything, after some practice, the fledglings got better at flying and graceful landings, and within days, if not hours, they found their way to higher and higher floors.

June 2, 2013 7:06 p.m. Now this is a proper place for hawks! While sweet angel is negotiating the park below, this hawk perches on top of "The Row." The tall Art Deco skyscraper behind is One Fifth Avenue (1929, Harvey Wiley Corbett). At this point, I've started to lose track of which hawk is which.

June 2, 8:07 p.m. Jeez. While a crowd in the park fussed over the fledgling on the park bench, another ran into a bit of a jam on Greene Street between Waverly Place and Washington Place.

Mom and dad hawk - known commonly as Rosie and Bobby - are always near the fledglings. I would love to call them helicopter parents, but they probably have a different approach. The young hawks are still dependent on their parents for the delicious sustenance of eviscerated rats and pigeons and squirrels, and they will stick around the park a few weeks more to learn from them how to acquire such excellent breakfast and dinner for themselves.

Two days later...

June 4, 2013. Early Tuesday morning 7:56 a.m. NYU's student center, the Kimmel Center for University Life. The building houses the Skirball Center for Performing Arts. Washington Square South and LaGuardia Place. The 2001 building was designed by Kevin Roche Dinkeloo & Associates. If you can't see the hawk, click to enlarge.

Pless Hall, Washington Square East, built in the 1890s. June 4, 2013. Early evening. 7:55 p.m.

June 4, 2013. The colonnade of NYU's Shimkin Hall at 44 West 4th St. (southeast corner of Washington Square Park). The hall was built originally in 1895-96 as a warehouse and offices.

June 4, 2013. 8:16 p.m. Washington Square East. in the last light of evening.

Once they learn the work of birds of prey, they will fly away to parts unknown.

The next evening. June 5, 2013 7:41 p.m. Silver Center (left); Pless Hall (middle, with hawk); Washington Square East Galleries (right). The light on the rust-colored gallery building is something right out of an Edward Hopper painting.

Washington Square South/E. 4th. No hawks.

NYU's Education Building, 35 W. 4th St. The building houses the Frederick Loewe Theatre.
No hawks. That's a plane.

View looking north on Greene Street toward E. 8th Street.
No hawks, or none apparent.

Meanwhile, in their youthful airborne adventures, the hawks and their parents make excellent tour guides to Washington Square.

Washington Square Park, on the north side near Hopper's house. June 5, 2013. 8:01 p.m.

Night, hawks.

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Images by Walking Off the Big Apple from early June 2013. Clicking on the pictures enlarges them. For more images, see this set on Flickr WOTBA.

For dedicated and ongoing coverage of the hawks, I highly recommend the blogs Urban Hawks and Roger_Paw.

A New York Spring Calendar: Blooming Times and Seasonal Events

See the UPDATED 2018 CALENDAR HERE . Updated for 2017 . At this time of year, thoughts turn to spring. Let's spring forward to blooming times, the best locations for witnessing spring's beginnings, and springtime events in the big city. While the occasional snow could blow through the city, we're just weeks now from callery pears in bloom and opening day at the ballpark. In The Ramble, Central Park. mid-April Blooming Times • Central Park Conservancy's website lists blooming times within the park. During the month of March we begin to see crocus, daffodils, forsythia, snowdrops, witch-hazel, and hellebores. Species tulips will emerge in several places, but the Shakespeare Garden and Conservatory Garden are particularly good places to catch the beginning of Spring blooms. Central Park near E. 72nd St., saucer magnolia, typically end of March. • Citywide Blooming Calendar from New York City Department of Parks & Recreation April is u

Museums in New York Open on Mondays

Please see this post for current announcements of reopenings . Please consult the museum websites for changes in days and hours. UPDATED September 23, 2020 Advance tickets required for many museum reopenings. Please check museum websites for details. • The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) reopened to the public on August 27 , with new hours for the first month, through September 27: from 10:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday to the public; and from 10:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. on Mondays for MoMA members on ly. Admission will be free to all visitors Tuesday through Sunday, through September 27, made possible by UNIQLO. See this new post on WOTBA for a sense of the experience attending the museum . • New-York Historical Society reopened on August 14 with an outdoor exhibition, "Hope Wanted: New York City Under Quarantine,” in the rear courtyard. The exhibit by activist Kevin Powell and photographer Kay Hickman will highlight how New Yorkers weathered the quarantine

25 Things To Do Near the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)

(updated 2016) The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) at 11 W. 53rd Street is near many other New York City attractions, so before or after a trip to the museum, a short walk in any direction could easily take in additional experiences. Drawing a square on a map with the museum at the center, a shape bounded by 58th Street to the north and 48th Street to the south, with 7th Avenue to the west and Park Avenue to the east, proves the point of the area's cultural richness. (A map follows the list below.) While well-known sightseeing stops fall with these boundaries, most notably Rockefeller Center, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and the great swath of famous Fifth Avenue stores, cultural visitors may also want to check out places such as the Austrian Cultural Forum, the 57th Street galleries, the Onassis Cultural Center, and the Municipal Art Society. The image above shows an intriguing glimpse of the tops of two Beaux-Arts buildings through an opening of the wall inside MoMA's scu

25 Things to Do Near the American Museum of Natural History

After visiting the American Museum of Natural History, explore attractions on the Upper West Side or in Central Park. Visitors to New York often run around from one major tourist site to the next, sometimes from one side of the city to the other, and in the process, exhaust themselves thoroughly. Ambitious itineraries often include something like coffee in the Village in the morning, lunch near MoMA, a couple of hours in the museum, a ride on the Staten Island Ferry in the afternoon, cocktails at the midtown hotel, a quick dinner, and then a Broadway show. It's a wonder people don't pass out at the theater. While sitting on the steps of the American Museum of History, consider exploring the Upper West Side and nearby sites of interest in Central Park. There's a better way to plan a New York trip. Consider grouping attractions together geographically. Several posts on this site address this recommended approach. The Wild West of the Tecumseh Playground Groupin

The High Line and Chelsea Market: A Good Pairing for a Walk

(revised 2017) The advent of spring, with its signs of growth and rebirth, is apparent both on the High Line , where volunteers are cutting away the old growth to reveal fresh blooms, and inside the Chelsea Market, where new tenants are revitalizing the space. A walk to take in both can become an exploration of bounty and surprise, a sensual walk of adventure and sustenance. A good pairing for a walk: The High Line and Chelsea Market Walking the High Line for a round trip from Gansevoort to W. 30th and then back again adds up to a healthy 2-mile walk. Regular walkers of the elevated park look for an excuse to go there. Especially delightful is showing off the park, a model of its kind, to visitors from out of town. A stroll through Chelsea Market. Time check. If you haven't stopped into Chelsea Market lately, you may want to take a detour from the High Line at the stairs on W. 16th St. and walk through the market for a quick assessment or a sampling. Among the sampli

25 Things to Do Near the Metropolitan Museum of Art

(updated) Sitting on the steps in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of those iconic things to do in New York City. On a sunny day, the wide steps can become crowded with the young and old, the tourist and the resident. It's tempting to stay awhile and soak in the sun and the sights. Everyone has reasons for lingering there, with one being the shared pleasure of people watching along this expansive stretch of Fifth Avenue, a painting come to life. Certainly, just getting off one's feet for a moment is welcome, especially if the previous hours involved walking through the entirety of art history from prehistoric to the contemporary. The entrance to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fifth Avenue The Metropolitan Museum of Art should be a singular pilgrimage, uninterrupted by feeble attempts to take in more exhibitions along Museum Mile. Pity the poor visitor who tries "to do" multiple museum exhibitions in one day, albeit ambitious, noble, and uplift

Taking a Constitutional Walk

A long time ago individuals going out for a walk, especially to get fresh air and exercise, often referred to the activity as "taking a constitutional walk." The word "constitutional" refers to one's constitution or physical makeup, so a constitutional walk was considered beneficial to one's overall wellbeing. (Or, as some would prefer to call it, "wellness.") The phrase is more common in British literature than in American letters. As early as the mid-nineteenth century, many American commentators expressed concern that their countrymen were falling into lazy and unhealthy habits. Newspaper columnists and editorial writers urged their readers to take up the practice of the "constitutional" walk. One such essay, " Walking as an Exercise," originally printed in the Philadelphia Gazette and reprinted in New England Farmer , Volume 11, 1859, urges the people of farm areas to take up walking. City dwellers seemed to have the

Visiting New York on a Monday

Mondays are OK. Let's have a look at some of the museums open Mondays - • American Museum of Natural History • Jewish Museum • Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) • National Museum of the American Indian • Neue Galerie • Guggenheim Museum • South Street Seaport Museum Any of these museums could be paired with a nearby restaurant or bar, making a complete full afternoon or day in New York. Monday is especially good for a museum visit, because the crowds tend to be thinner, and restaurants, too, tend to be less busy than on a weekend. A fun museum and bistro walk on the Upper West Side would be a combination of the American Museum of Natural History and the nearby Cafe Lalo on W. 83rd St. I also would suggest a pairing of the Neue Galerie with a nearby cafe, but the two cafes inside the musuem are so good, why go anywhere else? Image above: The Guggenheim on left and Beaux-Arts townhouse on right. View from E. 88th St. by Walking Off the Big Apple.

Introducing Birds of Inwood

Introducing a New Website It's been a moment since I posted last. Please forgive me. I have been in the forest down the street. After spending many of my leisure hours taking photographs of birds in my local neighborhood of Inwood, I am introducing to you a new website featuring these beautiful and often enigmatic creatures. It's called Birds of Inwood . As I write there, "Inwood is my Amherst." With time, my advancing age, and the pandemic, I have learned to find depth and beauty in places close to home. I have also found to my delight that designing a new website presents great opportunities. Birds of Inwood is pretty flashy! The birds are even larger than life on these new pages! Please visit. You'll be glad I didn't call it "Flying Off the Big Apple." Check out my forest home. - Teri

14 Useful Mobile Apps for Walking New York City

Texting and walking at the same time is wrong. Talking on the phone while strolling down the street is wrong. Leaving the sidewalk to stop and consult the information on a cellphone, preferably while alone, is OK. What's on Walking Off the Big Apple's iPhone: A List Walkmeter GPS Walking Stopwatch for Fitness and Weight Loss . While out walking, Walkmeter tracks routes, time, speed, and elevation. This is an excellent app for recording improvised or impromptu strolls, especially with many unplanned detours. The GPS function maps out the actual route. The app keeps a running tally of calories burned while walking, useful for weight loss goals. Another welcome feature is the ability to switch over to other modes of activity, including cycling. An indispensable app for city walkers. $4.99 New York City Compass , designed by Francesco Bertelli, is an elegant compass calibrated for Manhattan, with indications for Uptown, East Side, Downtown, and West Side. While facing a cert

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