Urban Hawks

The evening at the Cathedral started with the adult male up on the eastern side of the building.  He was in an area that protected him against the attacks of a pair of American Kestrels.  Eventually, he took off towards Manhattan Avenue and 110th with an American Kestrel in tow.

I went on a walk through Morningside Park to find the fledgling expecting to find it in a tree.  However, I took a look back at the Cathedral just in case from the ballfields, and much to my surprise, I saw the fledgling sitting on the nest! 

It was eating.  I guess the nest must be a safe place to eat with the two Kestrels being so aggressive.  After eating the fledgling then made a number of stops, being harassed by either Kestrels, Robins or Jays the whole time.  The stops included trees in Morningside Park, trees on Morningside Drive, the Cathedral School, and eventually somewhere in the Cathedral grounds.

The fledgling at St. John flew from a St. Luke’s rooftop, over to the top of a large arch on the Cathedral.  It then went to a high platform before landing on a few of the finials.  It eventually landed inside a section of a fancy section of a finial.  This seems to solve a mystery of a few nights ago, where the fledgling seemed to disappear into thin air.

I was only able to view the fledgling at St. John for an hour before it gave everyone the slip.  It was on a railing on the roof when I arrived at the Cathedral nearby for about an hour before moving off out of view.  We saw a parent fly by twice, but didn’t see where it ended up perching.

With the fledgling being up so high on St. Luke’s and St. John, I haven’t been able to see the full family together since the fledgling left the nest.  Today, all three were on the Cathedral near each other.

First we had the fledgling eating on a small flat roof, then it snoozed a little on top of a brick column.  Later it was joined by the mother, who eat the leftovers, and eventually the father joined them.

The fledgling looks very healthy and active, which is great after the two unexplained deaths of its siblings on the nest.