The Sheep Meadow nest had all three youngsters exploring the nest tree today.  Their mother cam in with a pigeon and tried to get them to come to her to get the food.  See waited twenty minutes before giving up.  As soon as she put it in the nest, one eyass came in and ate. 

All three juveniles were in the nest tree this evening.  If I hadn’t seen one yesterday in a tree to the south, I wouldn’t believe a fledge had occurred the day before!  One stayed on the nest, but the other two were out on branches most of the time.  They all were having a nice relaxed day.  Unlike one of the fledglings downtown.

The first fledgling is off the nest at Sheep Meadow in Central Park. A trip from the nest to a fence and back to a nearby tree. While I was there, there was an eyass on the nest, a bird branching (exploring the limbs on the nest tree), a parent watching everyone, and the fledgling.  Somehow, the rain held off long enough for me to photograph all of them.

I was able to get some photographs before the rain came tonight.  I tired a Livestream broadcast as well, but the eyasses went to sleep as soon as I started.  The joys of trying to feed live!

For the first time this season, I left the Sheep Meadow nest feeling like I had gotten a great view of the eyasses, rather than fleeing glances.

The only sour note of the day was a gentleman who wanted to fly a small helicopter next to the nest.  This is the eight time within the last year, I’ve seen folks with model helicopters in the park.  The Park Regulations clearly ban them, (§1-05 Regulated Uses, r, 2) “No person shall engage in any toy or model aviation, kite-flying, model boating or model automobiling except at such times and at such places designated or maintained therefor.”, with Manhattan having no approved model aviation areas.

Now that small drones and helicopters with remote cameras are under $400, it would be good to see these restrictions made clearer by the Parks Department.  Beyond the obvious safety concerns for humans and the hawks, these new drones can be very noisy and are not appropriate for use in quiet zones like the Sheep Meadow.  I would encourage anyone who likes to write letters, to send a note to the Parks Commissioner and request that restriction on model aviation be made more prominent in the Parks Department FAQs, provide refresher training to all Park Enforcement Patrol officers and ask the Central Park Conservancy to improve the signage at the Sheep Meadow, Great Lawn and North Meadow so as to remind park patrons of the restrictions.

At Sheep Meadow, I was hoping for some easy views of the eyasses, but had no such luck.  I must have just missed a feeding and had sleepy, digesting eyasses in the nest.  I did have a few glimpses however.

While I was there the mother few off for a few minutes and was followed by a noisy Bluejay.  The male came in and got the Bluejay to follow him, so as to leave the female and the eyasses in peace.  Nice work Dad.