Riverside Rain Delay
The whole family was together just north of the Boat Basin Café Monday evening, as a thunderstorm rolled through the city. I only had about ten minutes with them before I needed to leave the park.
Survival Skills
On Saturday, we got to see one of the fledglings hunt and display the skills it will need to survive on its own. It isn’t independent just yet, but nice to know that its getting close, especially with the colder weather arriving.
On some other hawk blogs and forums, there has been discussion about these fledglings and their survival chances being from a second clutch. Most of the arguments have been based on conjecture with no real data about second clutches. Before we jump to conclusions, we might want to just take our time and observe these two fledglings and see what develops.
Across The Highway
The fledglings crossed the highway on Friday. They’re in the exact same trees and places as last year, just south of the 83rd Street playground. This usually marks the period where they begin to do some hunting on their own, so it should be a fun few weeks.
Riding The Wind
Thursday night, I found the fledglings soaring above the trees learning how to ride the wind and use a tucked in position. One glided over the highway and attracted a falcon, most likely an American Kestrel, who gave it a warning pass. This attracted the mother, who kept an eye out for trouble.
Another Dinner
On Wednesday night, a familiar scene unfolded. Dinner delivered with a fledgling dropping it to the ground and eating it there.
Down Time
This evening one of the fledglings went down on the ground and into the bushes near the highway for a few minutes. In a move only a young fledgling would do, it flew right into a group of people.
The group of experienced hawk watcher knew not to force the bird up the hill and towards the highway, so the group gave the fledgling lots of room to roam. These young birds tend to do silly things when crowded and it was great to see such a responsible response.
One could have interpreted the birds behavior as proof that the young birds are fearless and undisturbed by people. But I don’t think this is the case. We’ve seen year after year, fledglings just off the nest be unaware of danger, just like a toddler, only to be more sensible as they grow older.
