Bwog tipster Tipper Austin, CC '11, alerted us of the presence of a Bird Relocation Expert on campus. Worried that Our Hero may be in danger, we scurried out to College Walk and saw this van.

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,

A recent feature in New York magazine recounts the delightfully red tale of the two hawks, unofficially named The Hudsons since their naming contest was canceled, that tried to make it work in Riverside Park last spring. It being their three fuzzy little eyases, which died because their parents fed them rats laced with rat poison. Community members were sad, but not sad enough to get rid of the rat poison.

In other news, Hawkmadinejad is lying low this summer, but look forward to a lustful return during orientation week as H-bwog brings you updates on the identity of our fair feathered Hero -- and more!

- ALC

Photo: Lincoln Karim

This beautiful photo of a red-tail (and Bethesda) was posted to CityRoom a few days ago. Is it H-dad? It's hard to tell whether this bird has our Hero's juvenile plumage or if he's already done his second pre-basic molt (and gained the characteristic red retrices). 72nd Street might be a bit far south for our hawkish friend.

On another note, the photographer confirms our suspicions about H-dad's character: "But I think those red-tailed hawks are used to being looked at. They're exhibitionists."

photo by Peter Kayafas

Some red-tailed hawks are shacking up (nesting) on 79th St. in Riverside Park and the Riverside Park Fund wants YOU to help to name them. Since you all did such a good job with H-dad's name, Bwog suggests you give it a shot. Also, the female might be the daughter of Pale Male and Lola, which could make her a sister to our dear Hero.

To enter the contest, send your name, address, phone number and your names for the pair to hawks@riversideparkfund.org

Photo by Leslie Day

As Bwog blossoms into an around-the-clock Morningside Heights bird-related news source, we present you with two stories of from the cold-hearted avian world.

First, news of a hawk kill. Alex Weinberg reports that around 11 this morning, Hawkmadinejad "swooped down and ruined a squirrel in front of Avery." Awesome.

Hawkmadinejad photo, at right, by Alexandra Tsakopoulos.

Meet a very special goose after the jump!

Though Hawkmadinejad's activities of late have been carefully recorded and analyzed, much of his pre-Furnald-lawn history remains shrouded in mystery and chaos. An ornithologically-inclined tipster, however, points us in the direction of a possible paternal identification:

"Hawkmadinejad is most likely the son of Pale Male, the first raptor bird of NYC, who nested on the most expensive piece of property on 5th avenue a few years back and somehow "lured" a female to his nest with magical pheromones and now has many offspring nesting all over NYC."

While we hope Hawmadinejad and Pale Male eventually re-connect and Hawkmadinejad recovers from whatever emotional trauma the brief loss of his father might have caused him, it seem right now our winged hero has bigger (and faster) problems to worry about.

Bwog's resident ornithologist, Courtney Douds, spends inordinate amounts of her free time watching our unofficial campus mascot. Here's what he's been up to since he tore a pigeon to shreds during the greatest reading week entertainment since you got so sleepy you started seeing double.

You may have seen the large bird of prey around campus over the past few months; Bwog has dubbed him "Hawkmadinejad," and as someone obsessed with raptors, I am one of his biggest fans. He is a juvenile red-tailed hawk. One can tell that he is still immature because he has not yet gotten the russet-red tail of his namesake, meaning that he is less than one year old. There is no way to tell the sex of red-tails from their feathers, but the males tend to be around 80% the size of the average female red-tailed hawk. Therefore the males are a bit faster and have a tighter turning radius, while the females have more bulk and power.