Baby Pictures And A Protective Dad

By D. Bruce YoltonSouthern Central Park Red-tailed Hawks

Wednesday started out as a foggy, rainy morning in the southern portion of Central Park with a fledgling who spent the night alone, and ended as a sunny evening, with a family reunited. 

My earlier posts detail the morning and the reunion. It had been found by its parents earlier in the afternoon and noisy reunion was followed by a feeding.

I got back into the park around 6 p.m.  The fledgling was in a small tree behind a baseball diamond.  The fledgling was hopping from branch to branch learning how to maneuver around a tree. 

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After awhile the Blue Jays found it, and the fledgling yelled for help.
In response for the cry for help, the father came quickly.  We hadn’t seen him in the nearby trees, but he must have been watching over his child. 
He did something amazing.  He acted as a target for the Blue Jays, drawing them away from his little girl.  He moved from tree to tree until he had moved the jays safely away from the fledgling.

I had to leave the park to join some friends for dinner, but left with a warm feeling, that a hawk family was back to normal in the park I love, Central Park.

Thank you to Bobby Horvath and all of the Urban Park Rangers who made this possible.