Wednesday, July 06, 2011

Photo of the Day - Pip's Domain


I came across this card that my friend and fellow photographer Larissa sent me a while ago and realized, "This is where Pip lives now." Pip is the red-tailed hawk that thousands of people -- Larissa and me included -- watched as she incubated, hatched and fledged into these trees of Washington Square 57 years after André Kertész took this brilliant photo.

All of this Pip-watching was possible thanks to a web cam that was installed in the office of the president of New York University and focused on the nest on the ledge outside his window. It was fun to be part of the community of people who watched Pip's progress (and named her) and who still follow her as she transitions to adult hawk.

There are some great websites that chronicle her progress, including the New York Times Hawk Cam blog, Urban Hawks by photographer Bruce Yolton, Roger Paw (the pseudonym of a NYC resident whose blog features some wonderful video of Pip in the trees of the park), and Washington Square Park Hawks, which has a link to a boutique of Pip products. Yep, that's right -- Pip is now a brand.