The aggressive behavior of the new male has been a concern since two of the fledglings were pushed of the Washington Square Park nest. Having arrived at the nest very late in the nesting period, the new male seems to view the young hawks as competitors rather than young to protect and raise.  So the behavior I saw today was comforting.  For the most part he left they eyasses along, except when they were brought food by the mother.   Then from what I saw, he would got close to a fledgling, but the mother would intervene and he would back off.

So, while not ideal, his confusion does not look like it is putting the fledglings at risk right now.  That’s comforting.   While I’d like to be an impartial observer and let nature take its course, I really would like to see fledglings to do well this season.

I visited Washington Square Park twice, once in the early afternoon and once in the late afternoon until dark.

In the early afternoon, I saw one of the fledglings on the western side of the park in a London Plane tree.  It was most likely the second fledgling.  She looked healthy and made soft cries, something you would expect from a fledgling at this age.  The male was initially on 2 Fifth Avenue with the mother on 1 Fifth Avenue.  Later he joined her on 1 Fifth Avenue.

In the late afternoon, I couldn’t relocate the fledgling who had been the London Plane.  (This is fairly normal.  During normal years, where both parents survive, you commonly only get to find only one or two of the fledglings on a visit to the park.)

After feeling like I wasn’t going to see a fledgling in the afternoon, the mother was spotted bringing a pigeon to a fledgling on the Shimkin building.  It is the same corner as the Library where the nest is and also shares the corner with Goddard Hall, one of the buildings where two of the fledglings have been using the roofs.

The fledgling got to eat alone and in peace for a long period of time.  After it was done eating, the male was aggressive twice.   The mother intervened, and everything was fine.

The mother eat some of the leftover pigeon, and brought it to the Pless roof, where we think it was given to another fledgling.  (We had heard one cry from the roof, when the first one was brought the pigeon initially.)

Shimkin’s windows have fishing line at the window ledges to prevent pigeons from perching on the building.  One year a fledgling got caught in the for about half an hour.  Luckily, this fledgling did not get caught in them today.  If you have a high resolution monitor you’ll see them in the video.

So for now, it looks like the confused behavior of the male, which right now only seems to be triggered when he sees a fledgling with food, appears that it will not prevent the fledglings from getting fed.  While not ideal, it looks like the situation will be manageable by the mother.