This late in the year, I always question if the juvenile I'm watching near a nest site is from the nest or a migrating juvenile whose just passing through.  This happens frequently in Central Park, but I saw it for the first time in Tompkins Square Park yesterday.  The juvenile I saw was definitely not the surviving fledgling.  It had very different tail feathers and different chest markings.

Regardless of who this hawk is, it was great to watch.  It ended up having a fun interaction with two squirrels.

I went down to Tompkins Square Park on Wednesday to look for the surviving youngster from this year.  Reports are that this hawk has recovered from its illness, and is still being seen in the park every few days.  I didn't get to see the youngster but caught up with the parents, who were on different church crosses in the neighborhood.

The surviving fledgling at Tompkins Square Park is doing well at hunting on its own.  But it does have a funny style.  It loves to chase things while on the ground.  It's working for the fledgling, and is great fun to watch, but it would be nice to see this hawk learn to swoop down on prey.

The surviving fledgling at Tompkins Square Park is doing great.  From all accounts the bird is active, enjoying hunting and flying around the park.  I missed all this great behavior when I visited on Saturday.  The fledgling had chosen a branch and was staying put.   For two hours!  I did get some nice portraits, but I was hoping to watch it hunt!

One of the fledglings at Tompkins Square Park had died due to secondary rodenticide poisoning.  I'm on vacation in California, but Laura Goggin's blog has excellent coverage, here.

Please consider making a donation to WINORR.  Details are on Laura's site.

The two fledglings at Tompkins Square Park have become less secretive over the last few days.  They're now more likely to be in a place you can find them, rather than tucked into a hiding place on a tree.  They've both been on buildings, but on my visits I've only seen them in trees around the nest tree.

On Saturday and Sunday, I observed the Tompkins Square Park nestling, and the fledgling, who returned to the nest for an evening.  I missed all of the actions on my trips.  The excitement had been on Friday. 

Today, I also went to the nest which was empty.  One youngster was found below the nest, and both parents kept a close eye on both the nest tree and a nearby tree.  It was unclear if the bird that hadn't fledged was just branching below the nest or both had fledged.

We'll figure it all out in a few days...

I stopped by the Tompkins Square Park nest to see how the eyasses were doing. It's a good thing I did, because one fledged on Friday afternoon around 2 pm.  It should be a fun summer in the park with these two!

The Tompkins Square Park nest, which is the latest nest this year, has two eyasses that are look like they will fledge in a week or so.

I took a brief break from Washington Square Park and stopped by Tompkins Square Park mid-afternoon.  The two eyasses have really grown since I was last in the park.  Things are looking just fine.

Tompkins Square Park continues to be frustrating.  It's so hard to see what's going on.  This nest was built for privacy!

At the end of the video, you can see two eyasses being feed. It's hard to see but you can see two.  I can't wait for these birds to get a bit bigger!

I stopped by Tompkins Square Park this evening but only stayed briefly.  They wind was strong enough to make watching the nest difficult.  I did catch a feeding and was able to see one of the eyasses.

We finally got to see an eyass after watching feedings for a week in Tompkins Square Park.  I was able to see two at once, so we've got at least two, possibly three eyasses this year.

Both Christo and Amelia were involved in the feedings today, and Christo as taken to staying close to the nest when he's not on it.  It's so nice that after all the drama earlier this year, things are back to normal.

A quick trip to Tompkins Square Park let me see a feeding, but the eyasses are still too small to see.  We'll have to wait a bit longer to figure out how many there are!

When I arrived Amelia was feeding.  (It will still be some time before we know how many youngsters we have.) 

Christo was near the nest.  He then attacked a Blue Jay nest.  From there, he flew to a church on Avenue B where he was harassed by a group of Blue Jays for an extended period.  You can't blame the Jays as they were protecting their young.  After things calmed down, Christo ate a pigeon and then flew to the nest.

The hawk watchers of Tompkins Square Park, saw a feeding and an hour long visit by Christo (the father) last night.  I went down this afternoon to help confirm the hatch.  I saw two feedings, one around 1:15 and one around 3:30.  The eyass(es) are too young and small to see from the ground, but it's clear that the nest has youngsters.

After all of the drama with Dora, Nora and now Amelia it is so nice that the Lower East Side has a nest that has hatched this year.

(It says a lot about the difference between Washington Square and Tompkins Square parks when realize which bands play in which park. Especially when you consider they are only a ten minute walk from each other.)

The nest with the new female, Amelia, is due to hatch any day now.  This year's nest is in a terrible place to photograph.  When the eggs hatch, don't expect "baby pictures" for days!

Tompkins Square Park has had an upheaval this last week.  A third new female has fought with Dora, resulting in Dora going back into rehab and the new female taking over!  Plus there seems to be no sign of Nora.

This new female, which I'll shorthand as F3, is making herself at home.  Christo and F3 copulated at least ten times today.  I guess they both know they're late in the season!

Christo was the star of my day.  I first saw him copulating twice with Nora on 90 Baruch Drive and then later in the day in Tompkins Square Park.  It's going to be an interesting spring! (But we should all be prepared for things to go wrong. This is a very unusual situation!)

The story of Dora's return is getting more interesting. 

Due to a WPIX newscast about an apartment needing repair, we've learned of the location of what seems to be Christo and Nora's (Dora's replacement while she was in rehab) nest.  It is on an air conditioner on the west façade of 90 Baruch Drive (which is also marked 80 Baruch Drive for reasons only known to the NYC Housing Authority) on the tenth floor.  The nest only seems to have just been started and seems to need more work.  The new nest is about ten blocks southeast of Tompkins Square Park.

We saw Nora eat lunch on a building just opposite the nest in the early afternoon and had glimpses of another hawk, presumably Christo.  Hawk watchers reported seeing them copulate on Friday.

Mid-afternoon a group of us shifted our hawk watching to Tompkins Square Park, where we found Christo and Dora in the same tree.  Dora made a loop of the park, and joined a Cooper's Hawk in a tree for a few minutes.  Reports came in after I left the park, that Christo and Dora copulated.

I think we'll need some good photographs to know for sure that Christo is trying to support both females, but it sure looks like it.