Urban Hawks

I must say that the little heron chicks have me hooked.  The first two pictures are from Saturday and the rest are from Sunday.

Please be careful not to disturb the herons if you visit the nest.  A group of birders at around 3:30 p.m. on Sunday made a great deal of noise and two of them walked down off the western path to within 15 feet of the nest.  One of the parents, who had been feeding the young, puffed up to a large size, raised its crown and flew off the nest for 15 minutes.  The parent didn’t return to the nest and resume feeding until the birders left the area.

On Thursday evening, one of the Green Heron parents was still sitting on the nest, so I suspect the last chick hatched sometime on late Thursday evening/Friday morning.  These pictures are from Saturday morning.

The parents have stopped sitting on the nest, so I think four is going to be our final hatchling count.

There are four hatchlings on the Green Heron nest along Central Park’s lake.  The smallest one looks to have been born within the last day or two.  More pictures later.

Better late than never, Central Park’s nesting Green Herons have at least two new hatchlings on their nest.