Hawk watching in the late afternoon on Saturday was lots of fun at Fifth Avenue. All three fledglings were in the park close together. All of them were calling for food on and off, and Pale Male delivered a rodent.
On fledgling quickly brought the meal to the ground and started to eat it. But the other two fledlings started to express their desire to share the rat. Eventually, one of the fledglings took the rat from its sibling.
There are lots of eating pictures in this post, so if that bothers you skip this entry.
I got to see one of the Washington Square fledglings and both parents this evening. The fledglings are starting to venture outside of the park, so I think the area hawk watchers are going to need to work harder to find them in the upcoming weeks.
Tonight the two fledglings were calm after the thunderstorms. One was in a tree on the east side of the park, and the other on a building on the SW corner of the park. One of the parents arrived with a Rock Pigeon and the juvenile in the park joined the mother and took the pigeon from her.
This afternoon, I was fortunate to see Pale Male deliver a Rock Pigeon to one of the fledglings, and then have him return moments later with a rodent, which he ate himself. A two for one special!
(If you're squeamish about watching raptors eat prey, you shouldn't watch the video or continue reading this post.)
Saturday at Fifth Avenue had some excitement. The third fledgling, gently fell to the canopy of entrance to 927 Fifth Avenue after being swept away by the wind from a high ledge.
This fledgling has been having issues getting adjusted to life off the nest. It spent hours on a sixth floor ledge on Friday concerning the staff of 927 and today the mother spent about two hours trying to lure it away from a railing and into the park with food.
The fledgling stayed on the canopy after falling and looked healthy. It ran up and down the length of the canopy for at least twenty minutes. Eventually it tried to jump onto a lamp, then a tree and ended up on the ground. It wasn't in any immediate danger, except for being close to Fifth Avenue traffic.
Lincoln Karim, the photographer behind palemale.com, choose to pick up the fledgling and take it up to a high terrace on a building two doors south.
Protocols for handling these situations vary. Many rehabbers believe a grounded fledgling should have a few days in captivity to let it get established before being returned to the city. Giving the grounded hawk to a rehabber would also ensure the hawk wasn't dehydrated due the previous heat wave.
Also, the high terrace may not have been the best relocation choice. Since the mother was trying to get the flegling into the park, it might have been safer to return it to a low tree in Central Park, rather than the high building perch.
We'll know in a few days if Mr. Karim made the right choice.
(Hawk watchers had seen all three fledglings in the morning. I only got to see the third fledgling, and late in the day one of the earlier fledglings.)
I arrived in the park to find the two fledglings playing around a plastic bag. I discovered it had trapped water and the young hawks were using it too cool off.
The hawks and their mother perched in trees for a long time in the hot weather as well. A thunderstorm came through and I exited the park.
The fledglings continue to delight park visitors. If you haven't seen the fledglings in a while, try to make a visit this weekend. They're at a delightful, playful age.
At Fifth Avenue, it appeared another eyass had fledged, but I couldn't be sure. It looked like only the adult female and an eyass were on the nest this evening. But I could only find Pale Male and a single fledgling in the park.
I know a sleeping eyass can hide completely from view on the nest, so I'm not sure if we had a second fledge for sure. In any case, it was nice to see the fledgling on Cedar Hill.
A "benefit" of having a young fledgling in the park was that it was mobbed by birds. The visitors included a Northern Flicker, Northern Cardinal, American Robin, Northern Mockingbird, House Finch and House Sparrow.
Update: It turns out the second fledgling had left the nest for sure when I took these photos. The third eyass fledged on Thurdsay afternoon.
Tuesday evening was an absolute delight in Washington Square. The two fledglings were playing on the lawn and exploring the east end of the park. They looked so different from the tentative fledglings of just ten days ago.
On Monday, I spent the day at the Fifth Avenue nest hoping to see a fledge but it just didn't happen while I was there. For about fifteen minutes, I thought there was a fledge, but it turned out just to be the adult female in a new spot and a hiding eyass.
Even without a fledge however, it was a wonderful day watching the nest and the first fledgling.
On Sunday, I got to see the first 2012 Fledgling of the Fifth Avenue nest, who left the nest on Friday. It was hanging out in trees along Fifth Avenue, but then moved to a building window ledge. It looked bewildered and stayed on the ledge for at least an hour to the delight of the apartment occupants.
I haven't been to the Fifth Avenue nest for awhile. The three fluff balls are now grown up and getting ready to fledge. I arrived too late in the day to see much activity. However, I did enjoy just watching three kids with their mother enjoying a nice Spring evening.
I love when watching Red-tailed Hawks, you end up seeing a Peregrine Falcon and an American Kestrel have a territorial battles with the hawks. One raptor gets you two more. This happened this evening around Washington Square.
Bobby kept an eye on the Peregrine Falcon and Rosie got buzzed by the American Kestrel.
Both fledglings were hard to find until dusk. One was spotted going between trees in the east side of the park, before going up to a building. The other fedgling flew to the the Silver building from the library. They're getting used to maneuvering in trees, and are doing very well at gaining altitude and flying long distances.
Up at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine the three youngsters are in various states. One fledged a few days ago and is exploring the Cathedral with ease and was above the nest in a turret when I arrived. One had recently fledged and was in a tree across the street in Morningside Park. (Jeremy Seto's footage of the fledge is on Flickr.) And the third was still on the nest.
The parents came to visit the eyass still on the nest. The father delivered a rodent, and the mother visited for a few minutes, right afterwards. An American Kestrel gave one of the parents a hard time, while it perched on St. Luke Hospital's Plant building.
The Fledglings seem to get more comfortable flying and landing each day. The both appeared on the building east of the park this evening. They put on a nice show.
Both appeared to roost in trees this evening. Rosie has been spending a great deal of time hunting in the area around the fledglings. It will be interesting to see if this year, the fledglings spend more time in the park than Pip did last year.
Viewers of the webcam got to see one of the fledglings return to the nest and get fed. Returning to the nest by a fledgling doesn't happen that often, as the nest is primarily a nursery rather than a home for Red-tailed Hawks. But when it does, it's fun to watch.
I saw both a fledgling and the mother, Rosie on the nest in the evening. Highlights of the night included a miscalculated landing on the library by a fledgling. It though it could land on a window ledge, but there wasn't really a ledge, so it floated down to a ledge on the second floor of the library. Luckily, it looked much more dangerous than it turned out to be.
The fledglings ventured into the trees, and it is possible that one may have roosted in a tree for the evening but it was hard to tell for sure.
Today, I arrived in the park to see both parents soaring above the park and perching together on the west side of the park. I looked for the fledglings on that side of the park, but couldn't find them so I returned to the east side of the building.
After about twenty minutes, Rosie (the adult female) appeared and brought a bird to one of the fledglings. We watched Rosie help the fledgling eat, which was unexpected at this date.
After the meal, the other fledgling appeared on the same, high south side Silver railing. They stayed together like bookend at opposite sides of the railing.
