After a vacation, I had a chance to hawk watch in Tompkins Square Park this evening. All three fledglings ended up in the same tree with both parents close by and one fledgling even tried to catch a squirrel. Lots of action which was lots of fun.
Despite having a few missing primary and secondary wing feathers, the Washington Square Park fledgling is actually a good flier. It made its way to a number of buildings around the park today, and did a great job of flying to high locations. It did much better than many new fledglings.
There were no hawks on the nest this evening, and reports are that none were seen today by anyone. So, we assume the single eyass has fledged. The parents were spending a lot of time above the Pless building, so the fledgling is most likely on its roof. A group of us are eager to see how it’s coping with the few primary and secondary feathers that are missing. It would be nice to see a few normal flights.
Update: 6/15/16 The fledgling has been perched and flying well in the SW corner of the park today. Reports are nice flights, to perches high on buildings. So, the wings might not look perfect but they certainly work just fine.
The key news this week is:
Correction 6-15-16: Unfortunately, the second eyass at 116th and Riverside did not fledge but died, probably from Frounce (Trichomonas).
Not much happened at Tompkins Square Park in the early evening. The young hawks were back on the nest and the parents were enjoying the wind.
At Tompkins Square Park, at least two hawks have fledged, but they were all back on the nest Sunday afternoon. Dora, the adult female had brought food, so they all ended up on the nest. We’ve see this at other nests, where the nest becomes a feeding station, but it is unusual. It will be interesting to see how things progress over the next few days.
