Let's Watch the 'Gripping' Footage of the NYU Hawks

Screen Grab/New York Times
Ray Gustini 1,517 Views Apr 7, 2011

When The New York Times' City Room blog first covered Violet and Bob, the two redtail hawks who built a nest on a ledge outside the 12th floor of New York University's Bobst Library, it asked "Who knew the spectacle of a bird sitting on a nest could be so gripping?" The blog has gone all out: in addition to giving the birds a Twitter account, the City Room now has a live streaming "hawk cam" from the nest. The feed will enable readers to witness the hatching of the pair's three eggs (expected for April 22) and keep them abreast of the other "gripping" events from inside the nest. Like what, you may ask? We tuned in earlier today to find out.

10:26 Violet is sitting on the eggs, motionless. It also could be Bob. The Times reports he does it sometimes so Violet can "stretch her legs and wings and grab herself a rat or a pigeon."

10:27 Bob/Violet begins grooming him/herself.

10:28 A bug seems to have gotten into the nest. Or it could be the wind. Violet/Bob now chewing a single twig.

10:30 Action! Violet/Bob stands and begins pushing the eggs around with his/her bill. Sits back down--but at a different angle--ten seconds later.

10:32 Violet/Bob now eating a different twig. This is gripping.

10:33 More motionless sitting. NYU's booming rat population has to be feeling good

10:35 The sun breaks through the clouds. The motionless sitting continues.

10:36 Breeze picks up. Bug from 10:28 revealed to be a piece of litter.

10:38 Motionless sitting enters its fifth exciting minute. Convinced our browser has frozen, we navigate away from the page to test it. We do not return.

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at rgustini at theatlantic dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.

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