Gramercy Park Block Association

Flora & Fauna

Birds of Gramercy Park

To a red-tailed hawk, Gramercy Park is a clearing in the city: tall trees, open ground, and animals to hunt. Apartment buildings rise behind the branches. The bronze head of Edwin Booth makes a useful perch.

In 2009, one of these wild visitors acquired a neighborhood name: Ruggles. Hawks have come and gone since, finding food and shelter in the Park’s two acres. The name has stayed.

The story of Ruggles
A red-tailed hawk stands over squirrel prey and looks over its shoulder.
A red-tailed hawk among the ginkgo leaves.

A hawk called Ruggles

How Ruggles got its name

July 2009

Read the original announcement
A hawk opens its wings while standing on the head of the Edwin Booth statue.
Wings spread above Edwin Booth.

In the spring of 2009, a red-tailed hawk became a regular presence in Gramercy Park. It perched on Booth’s head and, one morning, on an air conditioner outside an apartment window. Hawks had been recorded here as early as 1998, but this one was attracting enough attention to warrant a name.

A naming contest brought hundreds of suggestions. Edwin honored the actor beneath the hawk’s feet; Edwing Booth added a wing. There was also Feather Hawkins.

Ruggles, Edwin, and Graham were the three leading suggestions. On July 6, Ruggles was announced as the name proposed most often, after Samuel B. Ruggles, who laid out the Park.

The contest made The New York Times. Its July 16 report introduced Gramercy’s hawk alongside Central Park’s famous Pale Male. There was speculation that the birds were related, though no connection was confirmed.

Wildlife in Manhattan

Two acres of hunting ground

The ginkgo leaves make a bright setting for a hawk’s brown feathers. Look closer at the photographs and there is a squirrel beneath its talons. With its wings spread over the prey, the bird is feeding in the middle of Manhattan.

Gramercy is part of a larger territory. A 2012 report in DNAinfo described a visiting hawk that also frequented Union Square and Stuyvesant Square.

The same report noted that Gramercy was kept free of rat poison at the time—a protection for hawks, which can be poisoned by eating rodents that have consumed it.

A red-tailed hawk spreads its wings over prey among fallen ginkgo leaves.
Sheltering its prey beneath spread wings.
A hawk stands with its prey on the lawn in the morning light.
Breakfast on the lawn.
A hawk lifts its wings on a bare branch against a blue sky.
Wings raised in the morning light.
A red-tailed hawk launches above the hedges, its wings spread and red tail visible.
Taking flight above the hedges.

Above the paths

A hawk can be surprisingly hard to see among the branches. Brown feathers merge with bark; a turn of the head gives the bird away. On a bench or the roof of a parked car, it is much harder to overlook.

Different hawks have visited over the years, though neighbors still call them Ruggles. In September 2026, a hawk was filmed on Booth’s shoulder, turning its head above the Park—seventeen years after the naming contest.

A hawk looks toward the camera from a branch surrounded by orange autumn leaves.
An autumn portrait.
A hawk stands on the roof of a parked car beside the Park.
On a parked car beside the Park.
A hawk perches on the back of a green park bench beside a hedge.
A bench for a perch.
A hawk faces the camera from a branch surrounded by fresh green leaves.
Among the spring leaves.
Watch the hawk on Booth’s shoulder 17-second video
On Booth’s shoulder, September 2, 2026. 17 seconds; silent.

Identification

Recognizing a red-tailed hawk

Look for broad, rounded wings and a short, wide tail. Adults usually have a reddish upper tail; young birds have a brown, banded one. Most have a dark “belly band” of streaks across a pale underside. Plumage varies, and a perched bird’s tail may be hidden.

Cornell’s identification guide

Migration through Manhattan

The smaller birds

A small bird perches on a green bench among red and orange tulips.
Among the tulips.

The hawk is only the most conspicuous part of a much larger bird population. Local birders Dennis and Sandy Kisiel began keeping a list in September 2006. Their checklist reached 99 species.

Manhattan lies along the Atlantic Flyway. In spring and autumn, migrating songbirds find food and shelter in the Park’s trees and shrubs. The Kisiels’ notes describe ruby-crowned kinglets in the catalpa beside the shed, six northern waterthrushes using puddles after a heavy rain, and a group of orioles moving from tree to tree before heading north up Lexington Avenue.

The historical checklist99 birds of Gramercy ParkExplore the list begun in 2006, with the original resident and winter markings.Explore the bird listFrom the archives · 2009The Birds of Gramercy ParkDennis and Sandy Kisiel on the birds they found in the Park’s two acres.Read the essay

Robins, blue jays, and sparrows

American robin

The orange breast, dark head, and yellow bill identify the American robin. In these photographs, the Park’s “Please Keep Off Grass” sign offers a convenient perch.

Cornell’s identification guide ↗
An American robin in profile perches on the edge of a Park sign.
American robin.
An American robin with an open bill perches on a sign reading Please Keep Off Grass.
A convenient perch.
An American robin faces the camera from the edge of a Park sign.
Another view of the robin.

Blue jay

Blue, black, and white feathers and a black collar distinguish the blue jay. These three views show it among blossoms, on a budding branch, and in flight.

Cornell’s identification guide ↗
A blue jay perches among pink blossoms with its black collar visible.
Blue jay among blossoms.
A blue jay perches on a budding branch, showing its blue, black, and white back and tail.
On a budding branch.
A blue jay flies with its wings spread and feet drawn up.
Blue jay in flight.

House sparrow

The gray crown, chestnut sides of the head, and black bib identify this bird as a male house sparrow. Its short, thick bill is another useful field mark.

Cornell’s identification guide ↗
A male house sparrow sits on a green bench, showing a gray crown and black throat bib.
Male house sparrow.

Have a photograph?

Share a sighting

Send the Block Association your photograph, the date and location, and the photographer’s name. A description is welcome too, even if you are unsure of the species.

Please watch from a distance and leave the birds to find their own food.

Share a bird sighting
Sources
Photograph credits

Hawks through the years

  • Sean Brady. Opening portrait and the December 6, 2022 hunting photographs; another hawk portrait appeared in the December 7, 2022 newsletter. Hawk gallery.
  • Alan Kleinberg. Hawk on Booth’s head, published June 16, 2009; young hawk photographed for the December 8, 2009 Trustees’ notice.
  • Patricia Pillette. Breakfast on the lawn and wings raised in the branches, March 5, 2012.
  • Joan Feeney. Hawk on a green bench, shared February 21, 2018.
  • Kathleen Scupp. Hawk in the branches, March 23, 2019.
  • Sergio Noriega and Grace Dabi. Spring foliage photographs, May 2, 2021.
  • Marc A. Lewinstein. Hawk on a car and in a tree, March 10, 2022.
  • Alyson F. Breier. Hawk on the bench near the gardener’s shed, August 11, 2022.
  • Col. Tom Pike Jr. Hawk on a sloping branch among yellow leaves, published December 7, 2022.

Recent visits & other birds

  • Susanna Porter. Winter tree photograph, January 5, 2023.
  • Milena Albrecht. Children watching a hawk; shared October 25, 2023, published November 9.
  • Michael Gerbino. Autumn portrait, November 15, 2023.
  • Amando Flores. Takeoff photograph, January 5, 2026; perched hawk shared that day.
  • Judy Vale. Hawk above the fence, January 17, 2026.
  • Sebastian and Ines Maria / Santiago family. Hawk on the path and video on Edwin Booth’s shoulder, September 2, 2026.
  • Sean Brady. American robins, July 25, 2021 and June 17, 2024; blue jays and male house sparrow from the Spring 2015 album. Summer 2021, 2024 album, Spring 2015.
  • GPBA archive. Bird among the tulips, from the September 18, 2014 retrospective; photographer unidentified.
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