I spent about 30 minutes at the 102nd Street and Riverside Drive nest. All of the eyasses look healthy and they had just been fed when I arrived. They look great. They seem to be the youngest of the hawks I’ve been following this year.
On Tuesday, I was lucky to find two of the fledglings eating in an oak tree just inside Central Park. There mother was keeping watch from a nearby tree. One fledgling patiently waited until the other was done eating to eat the leftovers.
I couldn’t find the third fledgling or the father, but I only spent about an hour in the park.
The fledglings have started using trees and that makes them much harder to keep track of. This afternoon it took me over three hours to find all of them and their parents.
When I arrived one fledgling was back on the nest. It stayed there but eventually flew to the right hand shield before flying into Central Park late in the afternoon when the father brought some food.
One fledgling was in a tree across from the Essex House about 50 feet inside the park. It was staring me in the face but without any harassing robins or jays, took me awhile to find. The father was in the next tree keeping watch for about an hour.
The mother appeared around 5 pm on 200 Central Park South.
The last member of the family, was nearby the whole time. I could hear it calling for food, for about an hour but couldn’t find it. Eventually another hawk watcher found it.
So, we saw everyone but it took time to find them all.
I had a wonderful time catching up with the 93rd Street fledglings on Sunday night. Unlike the southern end of the park at the NYAC, this section of the part is quiet and peaceful. The fledgling were flying around in trees close to the nest, as were the parents.
I think all three young hawks have fledged but there is a small chance one is still just branching in the nest tree. It wasn’t clear as both parents and more than one fledgling made stops on the nest tree.
This location really is an ideal starting point for the fledglings lives. There are lots of great trees in a quiet area to explore. Two of the fledglings are staying close to each other. Sharing branches and flying after each other as they move around in different trees. They’re rather cute buddies.
I was away for a few days and I missed some excitement at the NYAC. The last fledgling ended up having troubles landing on the glass balconies of 200 Central Park West and ended up being in a small tree at ground level. The police took it to the Wild Bird Fund and it was then returned to the park.
When I was there on Sunday, all three fledglings were on the NYAC. Two on the nest and one on a windowsill on the 7th Avenue side. The parents were together on scaffolding on Hampshire House.
However, when I returned at dusk, I didn’t see any of the fledglings on the NYAC and could only find the mother, who was looking out from 222 Central Park South.
I was visiting friends in Darien, Connecticut and their Osprey nest had just hatched. This year was interesting because two new Osprey are trying to settle into the same cove. It was the first time I had seen another Osprey harass this pair. Osprey have now recovered so well from DDT, that in New England there is now contention for nestling locations.
I arrived on a Thursday, and I could see that the parent’s behavior had adjusted from brooding to rearing the young. The female was up higher than normal and I saw a feeding. But it wasn’t until Sunday that I saw a small head peaking up.
