HAWK NEWS: The NYU Baby Red Tail Hawk Has A Name

So the big news this week with the baby red tail hawk nesting on a ledge above Washington Square Park is that he has a name now....Pip.   There was a naming contest online and Pip won, with York coming in a close second.  The reference is to Dickens' "Great Expectations" as everyone was surprised when Pip busted out of his shell a week after the experts said he was not going to hatch.  Now Pip is thriving and getting bigger by the day.

If you need a daily hit of adorable, forget those cat videos on YouTube.  You can check out the latest star of Internet cuteness live on his own streaming webcam page.  You can even chat with other hawk watchers about all the excitement goin on in the nest as this little neighborhood bird gets bigger every day.  I challenge you not to smile when he turns his big black eyes to the camera and stares like the cute eyeas he is.

NYU HAWK UPDATE: Feeding Time & Rescue Mission

Below is an cute video of feeding time for Violet, the red tail hawk that has been nesting on a ledge at NYU library with her new baby hawk.  That's the good news.  The bad news is the swelling on Violet's leg from a wildlife band has gotten increasingly worse in the last week and there is now a plan to try and fix it.

Bird experts from the Bronx Zoo are planning to come in today and, with a baited trap, get Violet into their hands so that they can remove the band and treat her leg which seems to be infected.  Hopefully this will do the trick. But if not, then they will take Violet and her baby up to the Bronx Zoo where the eyeass will be raised in captivity, away from it's mother. Apparently, without the nest she built and instincts that come with it, Violet might not take care of her own kid.  Bizzare but fascinating.  And absolutely adorable too....

BREAKING NEWS: We Have A Baby Hawk In The Village!

After more than 5 weeks of watching, it appeared that the eggs that a Red Tail Hawk was sitting on high above Washington Square Park were duds.  Earlier this week, the eggs reached their so-called "expiration date" and professional hawk-watchers said there would be no baby hawks in this nest on a ledge of NYU's Bobst Library.

Well, lo and behold, this morning everyone got a big birthday surprise as the HawkCam showed a baby hawk in the nest.  The eyeass (which is the technical name for such a creature) had poked through its shell over the last 24 hours. Viewership on the HawkCam has nearly tripled with the news too.

So what's next? The hawks will be feed by their folks over the next few months. And what's on the menu? New York City rats of course! Fortunately, the hawk watchers have coordinated with the NYC parks department and the poison bait for rats left in Washington Square Park will be removed for the time being so that the young hawk can grow up nice and healthy in its deluxe nest in the sky.

Sunday In The Park With Swing

I was passing through Washington Square Park on Sunday and heard a New Orleans-style jazz band whipping up some swing for a gorgeous spring day. There were also a couple dancers who were cutting some concrete with some pretty sweet moves. They were amateurs but definitely a lot more entertaining than the usual jugglers, showmen and folk singers that populate the center of the Park. A lovely diversion on an April afternoon....

Washington Square Road

This image comes from a book currently on my nightstand, Anthony Flint's "Wrestling With Moses". In the 1950's, city planner and master builder Robert Moses wanted to extend Fifth Avenue through Washington Square Park to connect with West Broadway, creating an express route through the village that would be called Fifth Avenue South.

This planned roadway that would have surely destroyed the heart of Greenwich Village looks almost quaint in this rendering. It's notable that, for an extension of heavily trafficked Fifth Avenue, there are only three cars visible. Of course, if this terrible plan had come to fruition, the park would be filled with the sound of bumper to bumper cars honking....just like the rest of Fifth Avenue. The reason this never happened is the topic of the book.

Jane Jacobs, a writer for Architectural Digest and a longtime Village resident, organized a group of local mothers and started a movement which not only killed Fifth Avenue South but also led to the cancellation of Moses's biggest potential urban renewal disaster, the scarily-named LOMEX (Lower Manhattan Expressway). This 6-lane superhighway would have sliced through Soho and the Lower East Side on what is now Broome street, carrying traffic from the Holland Tunnel to the Manhattan Bridge.

Anthony Flint's book is a true-life David & Goliath story. Moses, who had figured out how to manipulate the political, financial and social systems of New York to completely redraw the way the city was connected, was unstoppable...or so it seemed. Until, that is, Jacobs challenged him, killing the beast before it ate the Village and Soho. Of course, we now know how this all turned out but the book is still a very compelling read given the fact that it easily could have gone the otherway, like in the faux-pastoral picture above.

The Other New York City Tree Lighting

Last night, a beautiful Douglas Fir standing about 30 feet tall was lit up in Washington Square Park. This tree lighting ceremony is a Greenwich Village tradition that actually pre-dates the hubub up in Rockefeller Center by five years (the first tree went up in 1926). And though the tree doesn't have a billion lights on it or an ice skating ring under it, the Washington Square Arch and the Park itself make a beautiful backdrop for the tree. Frankly, it's a little nicer than being surrounded by skyscrapers and tourists that's for sure.

Anyway, the tree is lit from 4pm to 1am every day from now until Christmas so go check it out. And, if you're feeling very vocal about the holidays, you can join in the annual caroling in the Park, another 83rd old tradition that happens at 5pm on Christmas Eve. Happy Holidaze!