Urban Hawks

The eyasses will become fledglings any day now.  As we watch and wait for the big event(s), we get to watch eyasses that are now looking angelic after a “ugly duckling” stage, get ready for their big day(s).

On the video from this evening, you can see one of the eyasses jump at the window, around 6:40.  As you can see from a section of the video and some of the photographs, the hawk is trying to land on the edge of a picture frame on the other side of the glass.  For a species that is used to branching from tree branch to tree branch around a tree nest before fledgling, the lack of branches must be confusing and frustrating to an eyass being raised on a window ledge.

The fledge watch continues at Washington Square.  Hopefully, we’ll see at least one eyass off the nest by Saturday.  

I spent about six hours in Washington Square Park on Monday.  The eyasses are close to fledging and it was a lot of fun to watch them and answer questions from passerbys.

Both parents visited the nest. While many folks look to the age and maturity of the fledglings to figure out the fledge date, we shouldn’t forget the parents involvment in the process.  By placing food on nearby buildings and reducing feedings on the nest, the parents can help by encouraging the eyasses to fly for the first time.  

Now is the time to come to the park and watch the action in person!

The Washington Square Park hawks could fledge any day now.  They look a little young still, with tails a bit too short and a little bit of head down, but we’re close.

The eyasses were using the window ledge as a runway this evening and were very active.  I can’t wait to see what the NYU buildings and then the park are like with three youngsters around!

(On the webcam you can see one of the hawks jump up at the window.  I believe the eyass thinks it can land on the top of a picture frame on the other side of the window pane.  You can see the top of the frame on the second photograph.)