Keeping Watch

In the late morning and early afternoon, both parents kept an eye on the nest from various perches around the nest.

The female on a St. Luke Hospital building at 114th and Morningside Drive.
The female brings a twig to the nest.
The female (left) and the male (right) on the Archangel Gabriel statue.
Another view of the statue.

Flight Training

The eyasses are starting to do some basic wing flaps.  Soon this will turn into full scale flight training.

Red-tailed Hawks usually leave the nest after about 6 to 7 weeks.  If our estimates of the hawks ages are correct at somewhere between 3-4 weeks, they should fledge (leave the nest) in mid-June.  They’ll then, most likely, spend a few days around the Cathedral before moving into Morningside Park.

During the first few weeks in the park, the parents will feed the fledglings.  But soon the parents will be teaching the young to hunt on their own.  In late summer, the fledglings will be able to take care of themselves and will at some point wander off in the fall or winter.

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Baby Makes Three

The St. John the Divine nest has a deep slope that allows the eyasses to completely hide from view.  Since we discovered the second eyas on Sunday, there have been clues that a third eyas might be in the nest.

Today, the puzzle was solved. We finally got to see all three at the same time.  Once during a morning feeding and again in the early afternoon.

Update: Since June 1st, we’ve only been able to see two eyasses.

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Meet The Parents

Friday afternoon started with a very hazy sky, which changed to light rain before clearing.  The eyasses are losing their downy appearance more and more each day.

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The mother has been spending more time away from the nest.  Both parents spent a great deal of time with each other Friday afternoon.  Here they’re on a railing at the top, northeast corner of 352 West 110th Street.  The male is on the left.
They stayed there for about 30 minutes.
They then returned to the Cathedral with the female making a brief stop on a water tower on the West 400 block of 110th. The tower has a view of the Cathedral.
We lost track of both parents for awhile, and then saw the mother head over to the roof of the building that houses St. Luke’s Emergency Room.  The top of this building has lots of pigeons. When she returned, St. Luke’s had one less pigeon.
The father was visible on this decorative element that is directly above the nest.
I walked all around the Cathedral trying to find the mother, and finally found her.  She was on a similar fixture to the male’s perch, 25 feet south, which can’t be seen from 113th Street.  Unlike the Central Park nest sites, this location has plenty of places for the parents to hide.