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.
Central Park continues to have a good number of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds...
Today both Pale Male and Octavia were both at the northern reaches of their territory. Pale Male was on a building at 87th and Fifth, which has a nice view of the Reservoir and the birds migrating south. Today, that included a kettle of Broad-winged Hawks and two Bald Eagles. Octavia was up north as well and I found her perched on the north side of the Met. This northern area is full of food in the fall, with rodents eating apples near the Hamilton Statue, song birds that die due to collisions with the Temple of Dendur windows, and rodents on the Birdle Path south and east of the Reservoir.
Octavia, Pale Male's mate was on one of her favorite perches this morning a window facing the park of a building just south of The Frick Collection at 70th and Fifth Avenue.
Just a short video of Pale Male today on the "Oreo" Building, called this because it is brown with a white strip of bricks. Plus some photos of a Ruby-throated Hummingbird. It was nice to have some sunshine today!
The Legend of Pale Male, Frederic Lilien's wonderful follow up to his PBS Nature episode, will be released on streaming platforms on September 1st for the first time. For more detail, go to www.thelegendofpalemale.net
There were two Belted Kingfishers and a Green Heron on Turtle Pond in Central Park today. The Belted Kingfishers were fishing and the Green Heron was preening. A sure sign the fall migration has started.
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.
As is the usual pattern for the Fifth Avenue Fledglings this time of year, they have roamed north to the areas around the Great Lawn. Today, one of the fledglings ran me all around from the Hamilton Statue, to the East Pinetum, to the Great Lawn, the two ball fields above the Great Lawn, the West Pinetum including a picnic table, across the 86th Street Transverse to the Bridle Path south of the Reservoir, Seneca Village, and finally the Locust Grove where it caught and ate a pigeon. What a great day!
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.
One of Pale Male and Octavia's offspring was enjoying itself south of the Met yesterday afternoon. It didn't do much but relax on a single tree branch for over an hour.
This was far different from the behavior I witnessed (without a camera) earlier in the week. A fledgling raided an American Robin nest, eating each of young Robins. Like father, like fledgling.
The last of the Tompkins Square Park eyasses fledged a few days ago. This was the last Manhattan hawk to fledge, so this will be the last update for 2018.
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...
One of the two eyasses on the Tompkins Square Park nest fledged today around 2 p.m.
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 Fifth Avenue fledglings are at that wonderful, playful stage, where they're learning to hunt. This means "playing" on the ground and practicing diving runs. The activity has centered on the south side of the Met, west of the Group of Bears statue.
There comes a point at each nest site, each year, when you realize the fledglings will be fine. They still have lots of youngster in them, but you see that they can fly without problems, are learning to hunt, and are preparing to be on their own some day. For me, today was that day on Fifth Avenue.
At least one of the fledglings has started to practice hunting in Washington Square Park. It made a few attempts at a squirrel while I was there this afternoon. Another was on the tower of Judson Church. This is a great stage to watch them. Unlike after they fledge were they seen to want to venture to the highest buildings, they're much closer to the ground and easier to watch.
