Southern Central Park Red-tailed Hawks

888 Seventh Avenue Fledgling Growing Up

The girl who seemed so shy when she first entered the park is growing up.  Her range has increased, she’s hunting and has lost the awkwardness she had when she first entered the park.

I caught up to her while she was engaged in stick play.
This helps her with her hunting skills.
She went after a squirrel but missed it.  She’s flying 250-500 feet without problems.
She moved to a tree with a clear view of both the Essex House and CNN signs, at dusk.  I wonder if she wanted to be able to see her parents in the morning.
She did a lot of panting and kept her wings open a lot.  It was over 90 degrees.
Although I left before she went to sleep, what seemed to be her last perch was a very thin tree branch.  I wonder if she roosted here, on a branch too thin for raccoons?
Other Red-tailed Hawks

Astoria Fledgling Vs. The Blue Jays

I arrived to a quiet afternoon in Astoria.  One of the parents was on the bridge and the eyas still on the nest was making practice jumps around the nest and up to a bracket on the bridge.

The quiet was short lived however.  The fledgling appeared in a tree south of the tennis courts.  It was immediately mobbed by two noisy Blue Jays.
They kept attacking and dive bombing.
The fledgling lost its grip and slid down the branch.
It ended up in a smaller tree.
The Blue Jays kept at it.

At some point the fledgling had enough and flew south to a residential block of Astoria.  I walked around the block looking for it, but couldn’t find it.  I think it was on a flat roof that wasn’t visible from the street.  With the excitement over, I returned to Manhattan.

Southern Central Park Red-tailed Hawks

Lunch Near The Ballfield Café

The 888 Seventh Avenue fledgling continues to do well in the park.  A good flyer, she still has problems with branching. 

The father arrived with a nestling for the fledgling’s lunch.  I suspect the nestling was a baby robin, but can’t be sure.
The father and the fledgling traded trees for a few minutes.
Until they ended up on the same tree branch.  The father is on the left and the fledgling on the right.
The fledgling ends up dropping the meal, and eats it on the ground.
It gets eaten slowly.  The fledgling seem in no rush.
The fledgling has been banded.  Despite protests by some bloggers against bands, they do not bother the birds.  They allows scientists to study migration patterns and if this bird is injured give those giving help access to its past medical records.
While the fledgling was on the ground, the father kept watch.
I had to leave, but the fledgling continues to be well looked after by its parents.  It should spend the summer in the park learning to hunt and fly, and leave us in late August or early September.