On Thursday morning before the rain started, I went to the Conservatory Garden of Central Park and waited for another feeding on the Terence Cardinal Cooke nest. It took some time for a feeding to occur. Luckily there are some nice benches in the garden. An American Kestrel made a brief visit to the same building as the nest as well, and I got to watch a pair of American Robins work on a nest.
Two updates:
Tahj Holiday let folks know that he had seen a feeding today at Terence Cardinal Cooke. I went up to see for myself in the afternoon.
Before the eggs hatch food is usually kept off the nest to reduce flies and other insects. The mother generally eats away from the nest, picking up food left by the father. So seeing food on the nest or seeing it delivered is a sign the nest has hatched.
And then there are feedings. You can’t see the recently hatched eyasses in the beginning. But you so see the mother tearing small pieces of food for the eyass and gently putting her head into the nest, tilting her head at a 45 degree angle. The eggs hatch a few days apart, so one or two eggs may not have hatched yet.
I saw both the food, a bird and a brown rat, and the feeding. Let’s hope they do well and we have fledglings in the North End of the Central Park in early June.
I’ve been hearing lots of reports of the relocated 1115 Fifth Avenue nest near the West Drive in Central Park, where people say they see the female on the nest. I’ve gone a few times and haven’t been able to see her until today. I hope they can second clutch and be successful this year.
Two Northern Rough-Winged Swallows (hopefully, I have the I.D. correct) were working The Pool in the northwest of Central Park on Monday. They would repeatedly return to the same branches.
In a break in Monday’s rain, I went to visit the Terence Cardinal Cooke nest. I thought the nest should have hatched by now, but I would easily have gotten the dates wrong. New nesters sometimes sit down early before they lay their eggs.
