I heard that the 310 West 72nd Street had hatched in April but hadn’t had time to visit until now. It started out slow, with no hawks in sight. But soon a sleeping hawks wing came up, and then another. Soon both young hawks were awake, and a parent made a visit. It looks like the eyasses are about four weeks old. They may be one of the first ones to fledge in Manhattan.
The nest has only one eyass this year. The eyass is visible from the south side of 72nd Street between West End Avenue and Broadway, if you time things correctly. I ended up being very lucky and caught a feeding.
I made two detour before visiting Central Park today. First, I saw the nest that had been partially built on the St. Regis Hotel. It’s on the high floor in the northern most oval window facing Fifth Avenue.
Then to went to see if the 310 West 72nd Street nest was active. It was and the female was sitting on the nest and the male escorted a balloon out of the territory.
The action I saw today, was a parent and a fledgling, up and down West End Avenue from 70th to 76th Street, on building on both the west and east side of the street. I believe the fledgling I was watching was the second one to leave the nest.
The young fledglings and their father spent time on 310 West 72nd Street, 263 West End Avenue, the rear of 269 West 72 Street, the rear of 253 72 Street, and 253 West 73rd Street while I watched them this evening.
The parents and fledglings may still be using the nest for feedings, because I keep seeing the fledglings return to the nest.
The real fun of the evening was to see the fledglings cross West End Avenue and end up on the rear of 253 72 Street. A pair of Northern Mockingbirds and later a pair of Blue Jays, started to harass one of the fledgling. The father quickly came in and allowed himself to be attacked and pulled the attacking birds away from the fledgling. I’ve seen this behavior at lots of nests, and I enjoy watching the protective instincts of the parents.
Just like yesterday, the eyasses look healthy and seem to have enough experience flying and landing that they should do well when the parents bring them to trees and lawns nearby. The real question is, will it be the Lincoln Towers area or Riverside Park.
Things started slowly on 72nd Street. One parent was high up on 220 Riverside Boulevard and I saw a parent on 70th Street, east of West End Avenue and then at the bottom of Riverside Drive. But no fledglings.
Then out of the blue, one of them was on the ledge where the nest is. I thought, I know both of them have fledged. Was I wrong? It didn’t take long to find out the answer. The fledgling had only made a brief stop on the nest and it made a strong flight across the street.
When I turned the corner to see where it went, both fledglings were on 263 West End Avenue, which is on the NW corner of 72nd Street and West End Avenue.
For over 30 minutes the two hawks explored the terraces and balconies of the East and South facades of the building.
In all my years trying to study these hawks, this is the first time I’ve seen a fledgling at this nest!
