Urban Hawks

June 12, 2018December 19, 2020Upper East Side Hawks

96th Street

This morning before I arrived at the nest, the fledgling was joined by a sibling on the Starbucks fire escape. By noon both had returned to the nest. The mother fed the youngest eyass this morning, and she did not bring food to the fledgling. I suspect as a single parent she wants them to stay on the nest a bit longer.

A rehaber inspected the fledgling with the limp this morning and found nothing wrong with the bird. I believe the visit was unnecessary, but it’s good to have an professional opinion none the less.

This nest is in a dangerous location, so there may be more drama later in the week!

June 12, 2018December 15, 2020Red-tailed Hawk Nest Updates

2018 Manhattan Nest Update 16

Updates:

All of the Grant’s Tomb eyasses have fledged. WINORR is working to capture them since they are without parents. One was captured on Monday, and one today. This leaves just one to get to safety.
Another hawk joined its sibling at 96th on the fire escape above the Starbucks. Both returned to the nest by noon. A rehabilitator examined the hawk that was limping and found nothing unusual with the bird. It still has a slight limp, but is fine. The mother is only delivering food to the nest and it looks like she’s in no rush for them to fledge properly. One of the hawks looks a lot younger than its siblings, so she may be encouraging them to wait and fledge together.
The first of Pale Male and Octavia’s brood fledged sometime before 3 p.m. today.

June 11, 2018December 19, 2020Upper East Side Hawks

96th Street and Lexington Has A Real Fledge

Early this afternoon, one of the 96th Street hawks fledged to a fire escape on the building to the east of the nest above a Starbucks. The hawk missed the landing and ended up dangling from a single talon upside down. Not to unusual for a first flight! This all happened before I arrived.

When I arrived the fledgling was doing fine except for a tender foot. It found some sun and took a nap for over an hour. Some locals went crazy that the hawk was injured enough to require care because they said fledgling hawks don’t nap and one person even tried to flag down a fire truck. The owner of the apartment put water and raw meat out. All of this was unnecessary and created needless panic. The bird was not in any immediate danger and didn’t need to be fed. These are wild birds and not pets.

Tuesday Update: NYC Audubon and the Urban Park Rangers are aware of the fledgling’s location and status. The Urban Park Rangers (a division of the NYC Parks Department) will be monitoring the fledgling today.

June 11, 2018December 19, 2020Riverside Park Red-tailed Hawks

Grant’s Tomb News

I arrived at Grant’s Tomb after the rehabilitator had already left with one of the fledglings, so what I’m going to say is all second hand. A few days ago the male crashed into a window hard enough to break the glass. He hasn’t been seen since. The female got into an accident with a car, and appears to have rodenticide poising.

This leave all three fledglings with no one to feed them. So, Bobby Horvath of WINORR came to capture the fledglings. He got one, but two can fly too well to be captured at this point. It will be a challenge to capture these two! Good luck Bobby!

Here are picture of one of the fledglings that needs to be put into protective care.

June 11, 2018December 19, 2020927 5th Avenue Red-tailed Hawks

Not Yet At Fifth Avenue

The eyasses stayed put today, even with the Puerto Rican Day Parade. They do look ready to go however. Pale Male delivered food this evening and Octavia got into a food fight with one of the fledglings. Youngsters!

June 11, 2018December 20, 2020Upper East Side Hawks

Fledgling Reconsiders at 96th Street

I received photographs, texts and emails this morning showing that one of the fledglings had left the nest. It had gone down to scaffolding below the nest early in the morning.

I was spending the weekend and was able to get to the nest around 5 p.m. When I arrived I was surprised to see three eyasses in the nest. It turns out the fledgling decided it was too soon to leave and using the stairs of the fire escape returned to its two siblings. I guess this was extended “branching”.

Urban nests continue to surprise me!