Early this afternoon, one of the 96th Street hawks fledged to a fire escape on the building to the east of the nest above a Starbucks.  The hawk missed the landing and ended up dangling from a single talon upside down.  Not to unusual for a first flight! This all happened before I arrived.

When I arrived the fledgling was doing fine except for a tender foot. It found some sun and took a nap for over an hour.  Some locals went crazy that the hawk was injured enough to require care because they said fledgling hawks don’t nap and one person even tried to flag down a fire truck.  The owner of the apartment put water and raw meat out.  All of this was unnecessary and created needless panic.  The bird was not in any immediate danger and didn’t need to be fed.  These are wild birds and not pets.

Tuesday Update: NYC Audubon and the Urban Park Rangers are aware of the fledgling’s location and status. The Urban Park Rangers (a division of the NYC Parks Department) will be monitoring the fledgling today.