After missing the fledge, but seeing the first fledgling on Central Park South, I went up to the Wild West Playground nest to see how it was doing. When I arrived, the mother was just leaving the nest. The eyasses ate a bit, and then horsed around on the nest before branching high up into the tree, say 30 feet. I wasn’t expecting much to happen, so I started to pack up my equipment and head downtown.

But all of a sudden, one of the eyasses fledged around 7:10 pm to a tall tree to the north of the nest. The fledge itself was typical. Great flying but a poor landing. So, I unpacked my equipment and continued to photograph the hawks. Both parents eventually came in to keep watch, although neither visited the newly fledged hawk while I was there.