Raptor that held Web watchers rapt dies; A new female swoops in

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[media-credit name=”Photo by Tequila Minsky ” align=”aligncenter” width=”600″][/media-credit]

In a wrenching ending to 2011 for red-tailed hawk watchers in Washington Square Park, a hawk that had a chick on N.Y.U. President John Sexton’s window ledge last year died Thurs., Dec. 29, after her severely injured right foot was amputated. According to reports, Violet emerged from surgery on Long Island seemingly in good shape, yet succumbed to a heart attack. Efforts to revive her failed. She is believed to have been 5 years old. Violet and her mate, Bobby, built their nest outside Sexton’s 12th-floor office in the Bobst Library building last winter. Her laying three eggs was chronicled by The New York Times on a “hawk cam.” Only one chick hatched, and was dubbed Pip. Members of Wildlife in Need of Rescue and Rehabilitation captured Violet in the park on Sat., Dec. 24. Only two days later, a new female raptor was spotted in the park, apparently quickly filling the void left by Violet’s departure. Some are now criticizing N.Y.U., saying the university should have moved to aid Violet sooner, since it was clear for sometime that her leg was in bad shape. Asked for comment, John Beckman, the university’s spokesperson, said, “This was sad news, of course. Violet was a beautiful and majestic hawk, and it was a great privilege to have the intimate view we did into the life — and especially the motherhood — of this wild raptor.”