Urban Hawks

June 3, 2007December 22, 2020Highbridge Park Red-tailed Hawks

Highbridge Park, Brancher or Fledgling

I went up to Highbridge Park today, and found the “window” from the path that provides a view from below. (Thanks to James and Robert for directions.) I arrived to what looked to be an empty nest but knew from the angle that the eyasses might just be on the other side of the nest.

What’s this? The movement came from twenty feet above the nest.

Now are you a brancher or a fledgling? You’re still in the same tree as your nest.

One of the parents kept circling over the nest in a pattern that seemed to say “Follow me, Follow me.”

An eyass appears on the nest. So, two are accounted for.

Then a second eyass appears. So, all there young ones are accounted for.

They get close for a bit, two heads stacked.

The eyass looks up at its older sibling on the branch.

And our brancher keeps looking at the parent circling overhead.

So, you didn’t let me know if you were just a brancher or real fledgling. I do know one thing for sure, you aren’t going to be in this tree next weekend!

June 2, 2007December 22, 2020St. John/Columbia Red-tailed Hawks

St. John the Divine

I went up to visit on Saturday and all was well. The eyasses are now much more active and visible. They’re at the stage were they enjoy sitting near the edge of the nest and keeping an eye on the world.

I couldn’t stay long. The mother was on a finial near the nest and the eyasses were using both sides of the nest to look out. (This makes it difficult to watch them as one has to walk half a block to get a clear view of the left side.)

June 2, 2007December 18, 2020Other Red-tailed Hawks

Astoria Park

The Astoria Park nest was having a lazy afternoon in the hot weather.

The bright yellow prey surprised me. An escaped Budgerigar or some nestling?

June 2, 2007December 22, 2020Other Red-tailed Hawks

Briarwood, Queens

I visited the Briarwood, Queens nest today. It still had one eyass on the nest and a fledgling exploring nearby. The mother was visible, but I didn’t see the father. This was my first visit to the location.

These two bring my count for Red-tailed Hawk youngsters to 19 for the season. Wow! Red-tails are doing wonderfully this season. Briarwood also marks my first fledgling sighting of the season.

For more about these hawks and their history, visit Jeffrey Kollbrunner’s Nature Gallery.

The Audubon web camera is on the left and the nest on the right.

I didn’t expect to be able to find the fledgling, but out of the blue, it appeared within twenty feet of the nest.

I had expected to have a hard time. The area surrounding the nest includes a few highways. Usually, if all else fails, you can hear a fledgling beg for food. In this location however, hearing the fledgling will be difficult because of all the traffic noise.

The fledgling in a tree. It jumped/flapped awkwardly from branch to branch. It still has lot of learning to do.

I lost the fledgling for about fifteen minutes and then rediscovered it by accident.

It did something very frightening. It explored the razor wire.

I was so worried, but did my best to stay still and calm. I didn’t want to startle it and cause it to injure itself.

It looked caught for a few long seconds, but did a good job maneuvering.

I just hope once was enough. I don’t want to watch this again.

Luckily, it soon moved to a much safer place.

If there was a caption writing contest, I’m sure the winner would be “Mom, why aren’t we on the dollar bill?”

May 31, 2007December 25, 2020Other Animals

Baby Raccoons

While looking for owls on Thursday, I found these three baby raccoons. Their tree had been trimmed after a branch had fallen. There mother was inspecting the changes and these three went exploring around their cavity.

May 31, 2007December 22, 2020St. John/Columbia Red-tailed Hawks

Brown Heads At The Cathedral

The eyasses continue to grow up at the Cathedral. Two of the eyasses have brown feathers on their heads now. They’re still a ways from fledging, but they’re growing up fast.