For a three-day week, it sure felt a lot longer. Maybe it was the newness, maybe it was the heat (or Hanna). Either way, let's relive this auspicious beginning to the semester.

Your professors began class in off-putting and amusing ways

A mysterious antagonist offended one violent feminist in EC 

We discovered our beloved bird of prey was a plural

To little fanfare, tacos were substituted for stir-fry in Ferris Booth 

It was announced Obama and McCain would soon descend upon Roone

At which point, every single person in the world immediately tried to secure tickets. These attempts were rebuffed by fickle and cruel technology. 

Political clubs pay attention to politics!

Lauren Salz...she's everywhere!

The Hawkmadinejads will take care of this

JShap rides off into the sunset to bright new career as a lounge singer

Political science becomes even less of a real field

It's time to get the story straight. Our Hero Hawkmadinejad, christened and courted with gads of sightings over the course of last school year, proved pervasive and rather uncanny. Commenters squinted at his tail feathers as they seemed to shift from brown to red and then to brown again - rather strange for a red-tailed hawk that only molts in its red retrices once. Something was up with our fair feathered friend.

So here we have it: the truth. From birder and blogger Bruce Yolton,

We received only a few responses to the Missed Connections post, but this didn't sadden us, Columbia. You see, the fewer Missed Connections, the more connected you must be, and we celebrate your happiness in love. But we continue to fight for those still seeking romance, so with that in mind, the following are the responses we did receive. If you think any apply to you, let us know (bwog@columbia.edu), and we'll forward along the email of your would-be paramour.

• you wear cute glasses. i wish i could work up the nerve to actually talk to you in class.

• A couple of months ago on the 1 train you sat down next to me. After a few minutes I looked up from my reading and you asked me if it was Nietzsche, but it was Nora. We chatted for a little while, and from 116th I walked you to the Barnard gate and after a still moment during which anything could have happened, said good bye.

• I was reading Plato on Low steps. You swooped in from the sky and disemboweled a pigeon no more than two meters before my feet.
  
  I knew at once that it was love, but I haven't caught so much as a glimpse of you since. In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, you plunge at that pigeon with all the swiftness and grace of your noble rank.
  
  Please come back to me. I miss you.

Our Hero's glorious namer is LOST!

No, really. The Hawkmadinebwog has been getting a lot of press inquiries lately about the origins of Our Hero's glorious name. Though we know the post from which his name originated and the context, we don't know who named him! If you're interested in owning up to your genius, or even if you didn't name him but would like to talk to a reporter about your personal reason for being obsessed with Hawkmadinejad, send an email to hawkmadinejad@gmail.com

As if he heard our cries as we riled against Dining's exploitation of our hero, Hawkmadinejad has risen from the garbage heaps, a rat clutched mercilessly in his claws. Everyone loves eating on campus!

Photo by Nat Gale.

Astute and protective tipster Jon Hill informed Bwog that he had noticed a poster outside the entrance to John Jay Dining Hall that features the likeness of campus hero and bird-about-town Hawkmadinejad.

It seems that Dining Services has taken tipster-generated photographs of our hero from the Hawkmadineblog and has reproduced them to advertise dining plans. Though why Dining thinks that particularly bloody photos of a hawk devouring a squirrel on a grassy knoll will convince students to sign up for a meal plan is beyond us.

While the bottom-most Hawkmadinejad on the poster does have a speech bubble that reads "Have You Seen My Blog?", Dining Services doesn't credit the photographs as the masterpieces of photographer/French Department administrator Isabelle Chagnon.

Our Hero is making some appearances by the church, probably to enjoy the nice weather and the sparrows and pigeons that hang out there.

Jeff Chou sent in the following picture of H-dad perched on a lamp by the chapel.

AND Hawkmadinejad made his YouTube debut via an accidental filming by Xavier Estevez! He's even got his own tab tag! Video and note from Estavez after the jump.

Hawkmadinejad, like all sweet birds, likes to dance every once in a while. Tipster Jason reports back after witnessing one of Our Hero's elegant duets.

So I'm in the EC 18 computer lab, and I look out the east window to see Our Hero, soaring gloriously at this great height. It was really cool. What was weird though, is that as he drifted past, accompanying him was a smaller bird - the type that would seem like dinner for a hawk. The two birds drifted together, not chasing each other or interacting, except to occasionally fly around one another. It was like a ballet in the sky with birds of different species. Two species-crossed lovers? An upper West Side (bird love) Story, perhaps?

Bwog muses - hybridization isn't that uncommon in birds. Or maybe that smaller bird was buggin' him?

Nathaniel Fintz sent in this gem that he took on New Year's Eve.

It seems Hawkmadinejad is at it again. Jason Patinkin sends this:

I saw our hero sitting on Low today. He perched motionless until a pure white pigeon flew by, then he swooped in for the kill, but I couldn't see the aftermath. The raptor and his would-be prey disappeared from sight.

Several tipsters have pointed out that hawks to the north have been having more luck ravaging the innocent. Red-tails - they don't play by the rules!

-ALC

Last week's haiku contest proved a jolly good time, so we thought we'd share with you which haikus H-dad liked the best. We'd been corresponding with him via gmail up until yesterday, when we received this report. Is H-dad dead? Prove that he is/isn't by sending pictures and sightings to hawkmadinejad@gmail.com

AND THE WINNERS ARE...

Bwog staffer Anna Corke just sent in the following statement:

"I was walking on Amsterdam by the underpass and saw a bunch of people huddled around something. When I finally got close enough to see, it was OUR HERO! I'm so sad, guys... actually cried. I can't believe he's dead. Anyway, I took a picture, don't know if this is too insensitive to post. Somehow I think he would have wanted people to see his carcass, since he was so open about his killings in life."

Still no word on the cause of death of our dear friend and hero. We'll update as more information comes in. If you'd like to share your grief with us, we'll be having a vigil at sundown at the sundial.

Picture posted after the jump (don't click if you don't want to see!)

Ben Reich, '09 says, "I got to the architecture studios in Avery pretty early one morning, and saw our friend perched right outside the window. Then there was this Linda Blair moment where its head pivoted around to look at me. Scary stuff."

In case you haven't noticed,Columbia's favorite red-tail has his (or her?) own Hawkmadinebwog! To show our affection, Bwog staffers have been writing haikus in honor of the best individual of Order Falconiformes. Ours are pretty good (see below) but we think you, dear readers and hawk fans, can do better. And since one of H-dad's favorite things is contests, we'll give a prize to the writer of his best poetic praise.

Haikus by Katie R., Zach vS and Anna C. after the jump!