Urban Hawks

June 11, 2006December 20, 2020St. John/Columbia Red-tailed Hawks

Fledge Day

The afternoon started out with a Great Egret flying high over Morningside Park. It concerned the parents enough that both of them returned to the Cathedral.

Then without warning at 12:20 p.m. on Sunday, one of the birds fledged (left the nest for the first time). I was changing shooting locations at the time,
and unfortunately missed capturing the moment.

James O’Brien, who blogs at yojimbot.blogspot.com, was shooting video of the nest, so the moment was recorded. James was kind enough to share these stills of the fledge. (The fledgling is on St. Andrew’s head and the adult female is on the right.)

Like parents who’ve lost their child in a department store, we looked high and low for the fledgling. I love fledge days. The hawk watchers who’ve been standing around for days looking at the nest, all seem to come magically together and work as a team to find and keep track of the location of the new fledgling.

Around 3:40 p.m. Jacquie Connors and James O’Brien, with the help of a squirrel, found the fledgling in a small Ginkgo tree, just across Morningside drive from the nest. We had hunted all around Morningside park, and the fledgling turned out to be within 100 yards of the nest.

My first picture of the fledgling outside the nest.

The Ginkgo tree had really small branches and the fledgling struggled to stay put.

The fledgling looked so perfect with wonderfully clean white feathers.

Preening continued to be a major activity.

Oh, how this reminded me of the innocent faces of last year’s Central Park South fledglings.

The mother returned to the Cathedral, but there wasn’t a feeding of the new fledgling in the afternoon. (Reports are that a feeding did occur in the early evening.)

The fledgling had trouble staying in place. It tried to navigate the top of a tree as though it was a nest, with very poor results.

But for some reason moved back to a thin branch. After a few minutes a squirrel moved past, and the alarmed Red-tail gave out a cry. This happened a few times as the squirrel moved up and down the tree.

As I was leaving the second eyas was alone on the nest.

It should fly out soon and join its sibling in Morningside Park.

I think all of the Cathedral hawk watchers felt like proud
parents today. Let’s toast with some Champagne the success of these amazing parents and their new offspring!

June 11, 2006December 20, 2020St. John/Columbia Red-tailed Hawks

Sunday Morning

I had arrived early on Sunday morning hoping to get some good light
after all of the rain.

Using St. Andrew’s head as a perch continued.

The female adult spend over an hour on the nest in the morning.

She watched her children stretch and flap their wings.

She also helped them finish eating a meal. The eyasses can eat on their own, but she seems to be helping them eat the last 20% of the animal.

The adult male flew towards the Cathedral.

The adult female on the Archangel Gabriel.

More flapping with a sibling getting out of the way in the lower right corner.

June 10, 2006December 20, 2020St. John/Columbia Red-tailed Hawks

The Nest and Morningside Park

It was an enjoyable day up at the Cathedral on Saturday. We got to see both parents, around the nest and in Morningside Park frequently. We also had great views of the eyasses who will be fledglings any day now.

The female adult perched above the nest.

An adventuresome eyas out on St. Andrew’s hand.

The mother on 301 West 110th. Does the lower perch hide her from the Mockingbird?

June 9, 2006December 20, 2020St. John/Columbia Red-tailed Hawks

Jumping Around

On Friday, the two eyasses were jumping all over the place. They’re now able to hop on to St. Andrew’s head and hand. They’ve also gotten a lot more daring.

I didn’t see the mother this afternoon, just the father briefly on the Archangel Gabriel.

June 8, 2006December 20, 2020St. John/Columbia Red-tailed Hawks

It Stopped Raining

We’ve had a wet week and it finally stopped raining, although it continues to be cloudy and gray.

I’m sorry to say that it has become clear that we have only two eyasses in the nest now. They’re too big for a third one to be hiding. Either my photographs deceived me and we never had three eyasses, or we had a death of an eyas about a week ago.

Wing flapping continues and they now can run around the nest quickly.

June 7, 2006December 20, 2020927 5th Avenue Red-tailed Hawks

Don’t Believe The Newspapers!

An A.P. wire-story about Pale Male and Lola, picked up nationwide, stated that the Red-tail pair have abandoned their Fifth Avenue nest and have switched to the Beresford building at 81st and Central Park West. I’m sure a naive reporter after seeing reports of the nest/egg abandonment at 5th Avenue, pictures of Pale Male carrying twigs on Lincoln Karim’s website and reports of the hawks spending their time on the Beresford, jumped to an improper conclusion in order to have an excuse to write a story about the rich and famous.

It’s important not to mix these three concepts, perches, roosts and nest, when discussing Red-tailed Hawks. The dictionary defines them as:

perch, noun, a thing on which a bird alights or roosts, typically a branch or a horizontal rod or bar in a birdcage.

roost, noun, a place where birds regularly settle or congregate to rest at night, or where bats congregate to rest in the day.

nest, noun, a structure or place made or chosen by a bird for laying eggs and sheltering its young.

For Red-tailed Hawks, these are three very distinct things.

Pale Male and Lola have a number of perches, including two favorite places on the towers of the Beresford. For years, they’ve spent many an afternoon at the Beresford, especially during the winter months.

Pale Male and Lola usually roost overnight in trees. The exception is during nesting season, when Lola will sleep on the nest from about a week before she lays her eggs until a day or two after her children fledge.

For Red-tails a nest is a place to raise their young. Outside of nesting season, they will check up on it daily, but it is not a place they will usually perch or sleep in.

Pale Male and Lola’s increased use of the Beresford is just business as usual. We’ll only know if they’re going to switch nest sites in February. Until then, don’t write off 5th Avenue.