Issue date: 1/26/07 Section: Campus News

Media Credit: David Pfeffer

Hoboken is a city of brick and concrete, with little room for nature. According to the Trust for Public Land's NJ news letter, for every 1000 people in Hoboken there is only 0.78 acres of parkland. This is far less than Newark's 2.93 acres per 1000 people and Camden's 6.34 acres per 1000 people. Amidst all of the manmade structures, however, a renaissance of nature may be occurring.
Many Hoboken residents have reported spotting a hawk on Stevens campus, around the Castle Point area and in Church Square Park, which is west of campus. The police have also taken a liking to the bird. "If one of us sees it, they radio it in," Keith Rotondi of the Hoboken Police Department told the Jersey Journal on January 4. "The hawk is well known around town. Kids from a school near Church Square Park watch for it during the day."
The Audubon Society told the Jersey Journal that the bird is a Red Tailed Hawk. However, the NJ Department of Wildlife told Hoboken411 that they suspect it is a Cooper's Hawk. "It could be a large female sharp-shinned, but the tail looks very rounded. It is a first year bird, which shows in the coloration and the spotting on the back," one NJ Department of Wildlife employee said. Hoboken411 is a blog that reports on current events in and around Hoboken.
No matter which variety of hawk has arrived at Stevens, "the presence of rabbits, groundhogs, squirrels, snakes and other 'creatures' on our urban campus could be nurturing a return to nature in one of the most densely populated areas of the nation," President Harold Raveché mentioned in an email to The Stute.

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