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 only had a brief visit to Central Park today.  I only found one fledgling, and briefly one of the parents.

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.)

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.

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.