Tonight, we saw the adult male hawk and a fledgling. The father still comes to the park each evening, but at this point doesn’t need to hunt for any of the fledglings. The youngster, who caught a pigeon (but didn’t eat it) kept us on our toes flying around the park as well as hanging out of fire escapes on building surrounding the park.
The father was the only hawk I saw in Tompkins Square Park tonight. He came to his usual spot, where only a week ago he was regularly feeding the fledglings. But it looks like the fledglings are hunting on their own and don’t need Dad’s handouts.
Dad, who’s molting and looking a bit scruffy, made a few hunting passes before catching something at the north end of the park. He ate it in the children’s fountain area, which is locked up at 7, so no pictures of meal.
Being one of the latest nests in the city, Tompkins Square Park still has its fledglings staying fairly close to the nest. All of the fledglings seem to have picked up hunting skills fairly well. On Sunday, one of the fledglings did a great job of killing a pigeon.
The hawks even seemed to be drawn to some of the punk bands playing in the park over the weekend!
Although the fledglings at Tompkins Square Park have been hunting on their own for awhile, tonight was the first time I witnessed it myself. There is something great about watching a young hawk show that it will be able to be independent from its parents.
We got to see at least two youngsters and the adult male. The juveniles are hunting in Tompkins Square Park but the father is still bringing food, so tonight after one juvenile had a meal a fresh rat another rat went uneaten.
For about twenty minutes at dusk, two of fledglings perched at the S.W. entrance to the park and drew quite a crowd. It was funny because only moments before they were about twenty feet inside the park and the park regulars were completely blasé about them and just ignored them. It’s tough being famous in New York City!
I made a visit to Tompkins Square Park on Friday. I got to see four Red-tailed Hawks flying high above the park and one fledgling on the nest, on the ground and in trees.
Late July and early August is a tough time for hawk watchers. The birds that tended to stay close to the nest are now covering a wider area and are harder to find.
