St. John/Columbia Red-tailed Hawks

Still Won’t Budge

The second eyas continues to stay on the nest, although it’s finally looking like it wants to fledge.

The adult female returns to the nest.
The two hawks have lunch together.
Soon, the adult female moves to the Archangel Gabriel statute.
Leaving the eyas on the nest, first to doze off for awhile and then later in the day, to engage in more wing flapping.
The adult female moves to 301 West 110th Street.
Although the fledgling could be heard most of the afternoon, we only were able to see it after about 6:00 p.m.
St. John/Columbia Red-tailed Hawks

Still Waiting

The eyas on who is still on the nest seemed to be in no hurry to leave on Thursday evening.

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Nor do the parents seem to be in a hurry to get the eyas to fledge.  Food continues to be regularly delivered to the nest.
The fledgling spent a good portion of the early evening perched within 20 feet of its sibling.
The fledgling then moved over to a cross on the eastern portion of the Cathedral.
As I left for the evening, the adult female was on 301 West 110th, which has new scaffolding.
The adult male was on St. Luke’s in the warm glow of the setting sun.
St. John/Columbia Red-tailed Hawks

I Won’t Grow Up!

The second eyas refuses to fledge.  Its sibling left on Sunday, but it still remains on the nest. 

We had lots of discussions up at the nest tonight, about dates (I had originally estimated the fledge date would be June 15th), if the first had fledged too early, and if there had been three chicks with one dying prematurely could these two hawks be four days apart in age, etc.

The delayed fledging of the second eyas and the return of the fledgling to the nest the first night make this a very unusual fledge.

I arrived around 6:20 p.m. to learn that there had been a very noisy encounter with a pair of Peregrine Falcons.  The action was over, however, and everything seemed peaceful when I arrived.

The reluctant eyas.
It alternated between being very active and preening.
It looks like Thursday might be its fledge day.
The fledgling alternated between the London Plane trees on the west side of Morningside Drive and the chapel roofs.
There are still lots of downy feathers falling off each day.
The adult female alternated between St. Luke’s and…
…the Archangel Gabriel.
As we left, we saw the father on 110th Street below Morningside Park.
St. John/Columbia Red-tailed Hawks

1 Down, 1 To Go

After work I made my way up to the Cathedral, and I was delighted to see so many friends from the 5th Avenue and Central Park South nests mingling with the locals from Morningside Heights.

Almost as soon as I arrived the fledgling left a tree and moved onto an angel statue at the top of the St. Savior Chapel roof.

The fledgling’s sibling is still on the nest.

Ellen Rockmuller reports seeing two eyasses in the nest early Monday morning (90% certainty), so it’s likely the fledgling returned to the nest to sleep last night.

The father leaves a nearby tree and moves to a favorite St. Luke’s perch.
The mother after flying to the St. Luke’s building at 114th Street, returns to the nest.
There’s a bird foot on the prey.  Is it part of a pigeon?
The fledgling moves to a London Plane.  It is almost impossible to see.
The father flies into the same tree.
Another shot of the father.
The mother leaves the nest and makes a sweep south before returning to a tree near the fledgling.
She then moves to a cross on the east end of the St. Savior chapel roof.

When I left after 8 p.m. the fledgling was in a tree close to the nest, the eyas was still on the nest, the adult male was in the same tree and the adult female was on the St. Savior chapel cross.

St. 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.

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The adult male on the Cathedral.
The adult female

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.)

Photo Credit: James P. O’Brien
Photo Credit: James P. O’Brien
Photo Credit: James P. O’Brien
Photo Credit: James P. O’Brien
Photo Credit: James P. O’Brien

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.
It found a more solid tree.
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!

St. 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.
The father on the Cathedral.
I want to fly.
I sure do.