Urban Hawks

The Fledglings seem to get more comfortable flying and landing each day.  The both appeared on the building east of the park this evening.  They put on a nice show.

Both appeared to roost in trees this evening.  Rosie has been spending a great deal of time hunting in the area around the fledglings.  It will be interesting to see if this year, the fledglings spend more time in the park than Pip did last year.

Viewers of the webcam got to see one of the fledglings return to the nest and get fed.  Returning to the nest by a fledgling doesn’t happen that often, as the nest is primarily a nursery rather than a home for Red-tailed Hawks.  But when it does, it’s fun to watch.

I saw both a fledgling and the mother, Rosie on the nest in the evening.  Highlights of the night included a miscalculated landing on the library by a fledgling.  It though it could land on a window ledge, but there wasn’t really a ledge, so it floated down to a ledge on the second floor of the library.  Luckily, it looked much more dangerous than it turned out to be.

The fledglings ventured into the trees, and it is possible that one may have roosted in a tree for the evening but it was hard to tell for sure.

Today, I arrived in the park to see both parents soaring above the park and perching together on the west side of the park.  I looked for the fledglings on that side of the park, but couldn’t find them so I returned to the east side of the building.

After about twenty minutes, Rosie (the adult female) appeared and brought a bird to one of the fledglings.  We watched Rosie help the fledgling eat, which was unexpected at this date.

After the meal, the other fledgling appeared on the same, high south side Silver railing.  They stayed together like bookend at opposite sides of the railing.

The fledglings were really having fun on the buildings to the east side of Washington Square Park this evening.  Both were exploring the buildings and doing very well at flying and landing.  The buildings and locations are the same ones Pip used last year, bringing back fond memories.

On the second full day after fledging, both eyasses were found in various places around the park, as well as their parents. 

When I arrived, one eyass was on a building to the east of the Bobst Library, where the nest is.  It was on the roof for over an hour.  It ended up flying far south.  At the end of the day, this eyass’ location was uncertain.  It may have been on top of one of the Washington Square Village buildings, based on the parents behavior. 

While we were searching for this fledgling, a parent and a Peregrine Falcon chased after each other.  I hadn’t seen a Peregrine for awhile and thought they had left the neighborhood, but I guess they were just keeping a low profile.

Bobby and Rosie were both seen hunting in the evening.  Both caught rodents.  Bobby ate his second catch on a building south of the Silver building on the east side of the park.

Late in the evening one fledgling was found on a Silver balcony.  It begged a little for food.  Rosie came over with a rodent, and then flew of with it to a building to the south of Silver with the food.  Parents use food to move stuborn fledglings from location to location, and I suspect Rosie wanted the fledgling off of Silver.