After the morning rains, it was a windy afternoon at the Riverside nest. The winds really pick up as you get near the Hudson. The eyasses were fed a hearty meal while I was there and the father made a few passes to see what was going on.
I’ll be away on vacation until Memorial Day. It will be interesting to see how much they will grow in the week I’m away.
I visited the RIverside Park nest after work on Friday, and found three active eyasses with their mother on a nearby branch. She went on and off the nest a few times and fed them twice. The nest was visited by the male once.
The video is about eight minutes long and features various angles of the nest and a few shots of the mother perched above the highway.
The young hawks are starting to show the first signs of getting their new feathers. If you want to see fuzzy eyasses, make sure you visit this weekend.
While at The Oven (an U shaped cove of The Lake in Central Park), I saw a Green Heron stop on a branch while moving from the Lake to the Azalea Pond. It had a stick, so it might be thinking of nesting around the Azalea Pond area.
When I caught up with the bird at the Azalea Pond, it was fishing. The video shows five catches.
A Scarlet Tanager, a bird usually seen high overhead, was at a reasonable height on the Point at The Lake in Central Park today. It was my first good look at one, although I’ve seen at least twenty in the past few years!
After visiting the Riverside nest, I spent a few hours in the Ramble in Central Park. Birds were not abundant, but there some nice discoveries including a Prothonotary Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Black and White Warbler, Northern Waterthrush and Green Heron.
Last year, Mother’s Day was the day we confirmed the deaths of the three 2008 eyasses. The cause ended up being secondary poisoning by rodenticides. It was on everyone’s mind this Mother’s Day.
This Mother’s Day, we had healthy eyasses and a mother adding greenery to the nest. It must need some freshening up with three babies. It will be interesting to see if she also starts to add a guard rail.
The father flew by a few times while I was there and perched near the nest as I was leaving. The mother was very cooperative and posed for Mother’s Day photos with her young.
