The pictures and video are of poor quality, but the find was exciting.  A Merlin was on top of a water tower on Central Park at 111th Street.  This small falcon was a fun find on a cold afternoon.

I've been away on weekends, and it's too dark in the late afternoon to visit Riverside Park after work, so I haven't been able to visit until this Saturday. 

While I was away I received reports of the youngster being at the ballfields by the dumpsters south of the Boat Basin, and further north in the 90's and 100's.  The youngster's being outside of the parent's territory is a great sign that it's growing up!

When I visited Saturday, I only found the two parents.  They were together on a water tower at 81st and Riverside, and both few off towards the south.  I found one, perching on various lamp posts above the highway.

I went looking for the youngster, without any luck.  As I left the park, I saw a bird perched on a building at 90th and Broadway.  I was hoping it was the youngster, but found that it was a Peregrine Falcon, a nice consolation prize.

Pale Male was on the Belvedere Castle flagpole when I arrived at Turtle Pond this evening.  He seemed quite comfortable on his perch, before he flew over to a tree on the north side of the pond.  He stayed for a few minutes, and then making a few stops along the way, went north to his perch for the night.

When I finally found the juvenile Red-tail at Riverside Park it was on the Soldier and Sailors monument on top of one of the decorative eagles.  By the time I got my equipment out, the hawk had left!  The hawk then when up and down the Promenade a few times before roosting in an Oak tree on the east side of the Hippo playground.

I hadn't been spending much time in Central Park, so I stopped by the Great Lawn on Sunday evening.  As usual for this time of year, Pale Male was in one of his favorite trees.  He roosted nearby in a spot I wasn't used to seeing him use, near the Great Lawn.

I had a wonderful time watching the Riverside Hawks on Sunday.  The juvenile caught two rodents, the mother a squirrel and the father was in his favorite tree by the swamp.

The photos of below and the video contain a great number of images of the rodents being eaten, so if this doesn't appeal to you, feel free to skip this post.

I seached all of the "regular" spots at Riverside Park on Saturday afternoon for a juvenile hawk only to come up empty handed.  I decided to leave the park via the Hippo Playground and at the top of the hill at 90th Street discovered a juvenile hawk perched in a tree.

As it got dark, the juvenile moved a few times before settling into a Ginko tree as its nighttime roost.  The tree was in the Joan of Arc park at 91st Street.

This is the exact area used by last year's juvenile. 

The older juvenile hasn't been seen in over a week.  It most likely has left the parent's territory to begin its life on its own.

The younger juvenile continues to hang out near the two ballfields south of the café.  It is hunting on its own, but still begs for food when it sees its mother.

While I visited on Saturday, the juvenile eat a pigeon on the ground and later the mother came in an ate a bird on the backstop of one of the ballfields.

Update: After I wrote this, I got a note from another hawk watcher that says the older juvenile may have been seen Sunday.   So I may have spoken too soon.