Avian tipster extraordinaire Courtney Douds has sent along the following absolutely insane photos of your Hawkmadeinjad ruthlessly tearing into her* prey outside Math today.

* Douds also points out that "this red-tail is of a size that makes her more likely to be female, since female raptors tend to be about a third larger than their male counterparts."

Hawkmadinejad is a crazy person. More evidence after the jump and on Douds' Facebook page.

Hawkmadinejad has decided to become more camera-friendly - photographer Samantha Greenberg brings us some photos from outside Earl Hall. More after the jump.

Michael Hernandez spotted Hawkmadinejad today letting a squirrel go in a rare feat of understanding and equality. Maybe we did wake up in an alternate universe this morning...

I saw him today attacking a squirrel out in front of Furnald. What was odd was the fact that the squirrel seemed to fight him off, rather successfully. Hawkmadinejad took up a post on a tree across the way (in front of Journalism) and eyed his prey.

It looks like the bird snatchers haven't gotten to Our Hero yet. As always, send in pictures, poetry and love to hawkmadinejad@gmail.com

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.

Good afternoon! My, it is raining quite consistently today. So, we're inviting all amateur photographers, no matter just how amateur, to take some photos of the weather and its effects. Send us pictures of puddles, colorful umbrellas, children in galoshes (especially children in galoshes), etc. and we'll add them to this post.

Hawk photos by Ruqayyah Abdul-Karim

More photos, including another of Hawkmadinejad weathering the storm, after the jump.

You may have seen one of the mature Hawkmadinejads hunting on campus this past Thursday. Courtney Douds reports back.

I saw a Hawkmadinejad consistently from about 3 PM to 6 PM and stalked him for about two of those hours. He made some pretty excellent dives at squirrels who narrowly escaped with their lives intact, while the other squirrels watching nearby made terrified squeaking noises as they stood stock-still on the tree trunks. Surprisingly, he at one point landed on one of the very low, public trees directly in front of Butler, giving everyone an excellent view of his grandeur and eventually turning around to show off his gorgeous red tail.

I also saw him get harassed by the crows in the honeylocust tree right next to Journalism, and just after turning off my camera he flew off to the tune of the crows dive bombing him out of their territory.

My goal is to catch a Hawkmadinejad campus kill on film, but luck was not on my or Hawkmadinejad's side this week. If you have video or photos of our heroic friend, send them along to hawkmadinejad@gmail.com.

Below next to St. Paul's Chapel.

On top of Buell Hall.

Hawkmadinejad, Winged Hero of Morningside, appears to have returned to campus. O, glorious return! Your bird has been spotted outside of Hamilton (correction: where he promptly devoured a pigeon), Butler (where he promptly devoured a pigeon) and Riverside and 109th. More photos of his fearfulness and sublimity below! Saakashtweety, prepare thyself.

Photo by Lauren Weiss

Bwog just received the following Shocking Report from Lecture Hop editor Pierce Stanley, who's currently staked out in Butler:

"There is a pigeon in the reference room right now, flying around trying to get out and walking alongside the books on the walls. Everyone is sort of watching and laughing."

Quickly! What should we name him? Stanley suggests Webster, "in honor of one of the most seminal reference books ever."

And if you're in Butler and you have a camera, snap a picture of this delightful avian distraction and send it to bwog@columbia.edu.

UPDATE 9:14 PM: Saakashtweety it is!

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

Bwog spotted an unknown (but tagged) winged creature at the South Street Seaport. He/she was a menacing sort, and a crowd had gathered at a safe distance around the bird as he/she spread his/her wings and hopped about. Recognize this bird or his species? Email bwog@columbia.edu or use the comment thread.

Our Hero's glorious namer is LOST!

No, really. The Hawkmadinebwog has been getting a lot of press inquiries lately about the origins of Our Hero's glorious name. Though we know the post from which his name originated and the context, we don't know who named him! If you're interested in owning up to your genius, or even if you didn't name him but would like to talk to a reporter about your personal reason for being obsessed with Hawkmadinejad, send an email to hawkmadinejad@gmail.com

City Room is reporting that our red-tailed friends down on 81st and Riverside have hatched a trio of eyases! The mom and dad are still unnamed, though.

Keep updated for a post later this week about Hawkmadinejad's gender, marital status and more! Oh my!

Picture by NYC birder Bruce Yolton

Yesterday, after reading a rumor that Columbia University bought four hawks for our campus in order to kill off our flourishing pigeon population, Bwog did some investigations into the matter.

Says Liz Craig, a research associate at the NYC Audubon Society,

"No, I'm sure the rumor isn't legitimate. It's illegal (with few exceptions) to buy/sell any native migratory bird as per the migratory bird treaty act."

And Matthew Early, VP of Operations at Facilities,

"We did not purchase or bring the hawk to Columbia, however it makes for an interesting rumor."

Problem solved - which means yesterday's photo could really be of Our Hero, though the red tail feathers would be a little early in coming. H-dad would be starting his spring molt into his mature plumage right now, but the fact that the bird in that photo has ALL of his red tail feathers in place seems a bit premature. Maybe that's his mate?

-ALC