The King is Dead, Long Live the King! (Part 2)

The goings on at the Cathedral have been a dramatic and fascinating education. On the one hand is the passing of a great and noble creature. While the other reveals the resiliency and preseverance of nature. Rob had spotted another adult hawk on the Cathedral yesterday, so I have made observations to determine its identity. Early in the am I watched Isolde perch on the trumpet of Gabriel and then fly out high, high up and to the northeast. I lost her somewhere above 119th and 2nd Ave.

Later that evening I returned to the Park and again could find no trace of Tristan in the now bare and soggy ground. I caught up with Rob at the Cathedral and we witnessed the Cathedral female fly out from somewhere. She perched on St. Luke's

She almost reminded me of Lola on Linda 5. But she seemed to be looking intently out over Morningside. I pivoted around, but could not see what it was. After a few minutes, Rob again yelled hawk!

Soon after I saw it, I knew this was not Tristan. This was a much darker hawk!


At first she raised her hackles, but they settled into a silent tolerance of each other and watched the reflected sunset.

The male then flew over to an air conditioner, then to the stone urn that Tristan often used, then out eventually north over Morningside. I caught brief glimpse of it leaving down and to the north, out over Harlem proper. On the way back, I thought of the amazing resilience of nature while still silently mourning Tristan. That new hawk seemed to come from the Northeast and was much darker. I then began to think of the male hawk from 145th that I've photographed on CCNY for some time. I will begin a photographic analysis to see if I can make an ID.