The Henry Hudson Parkway traffic claimed another fledgling today at Riverside Park today.  This leaves only one out of the original three fledglings still alive.

I received word that the police assisted in stopping traffic and the remains were retrieved and given to someone in the Parks Department.

The two fledglings had been on the same branch on a tree at the top of the stairs that leads to the underpass at 84th Street.  One flew across the highway, above car height but did not fly high enough for the truck.  It was then hit a few more times by other cars.

The fledglings have discovered the wall that separates the park for Riverside Drive and the West Side.  While sitting on it, the hawks have a good view of squirrels and rodents below the wall.  While below it, they can look into cracks between the stones to find nesting rodents.

For the hawks, it’s natural.  For the hawk watchers, who know the city and its danger are just on the other side of the wall, it seems unnatural.  But it’s just part of the hawk’s growing up and learning more about their environment.  Soon they’ll be perching on Riverside Drive buildings, just like their parents.

The fledglings are broadening their area and have begun doing some of their own hunting.   This has meant going further north into the southern section of the Promenade and doing more aggressive flying going blocks at a time at a higher altitude.

One of the fledglings was very active on Thursday evening, screaming its head off begging for food.  It’s become an excellent flier, so it took a lot of walking to keep up with the fledgling, whose stops included the roof of a slide in the playground.  A few squirrels were chased, but nothing caught.

The other fledgling was in a tree sitting quietly by the parkway watching the traffic go by.  It was reported that the fledgling crossed the highway towards the nest area to roost for the evening.

The fledglings had been fed before I arrived, so tonight I saw two very relaxed, digesting Red-tailed Hawks.  The only noise came from neighborhood American Robins and Mockingbirds.

Dull is good.  Only a week ago, we were worrying about the fledglings crossing the highway. 

The evening was fairly quiet this evening, even if the fledglings were a little vocal.  They flew around some, one was on the ground briefly, but all and all it was a calm night.

They fledglings are flying really well.  I suspect that we’ll see them venturing up and down the promenade further north soon.  It also means that they’ll be harder to keep track of too.  I suspect lots of hawk watchers are going to be sharing cell phone numbers within a week.