Urban Hawks

A little bit before 1 p.m., the female helped a nestling have lunch.  The young can feed themselves, but the mother helps by pulling apart the meat into smaller pieces.

In the late morning and early afternoon, both parents kept an eye on the nest from various perches around the nest.

Sunday morning at the nest.  They sure are growing up fast.

The eyasses are starting to do some basic wing flaps.  Soon this will turn into full scale flight training.

Red-tailed Hawks usually leave the nest after about 6 to 7 weeks.  If our estimates of the hawks ages are correct at somewhere between 3-4 weeks, they should fledge (leave the nest) in mid-June.  They’ll then, most likely, spend a few days around the Cathedral before moving into Morningside Park.

During the first few weeks in the park, the parents will feed the fledglings.  But soon the parents will be teaching the young to hunt on their own.  In late summer, the fledglings will be able to take care of themselves and will at some point wander off in the fall or winter.

The St. John the Divine nest has a deep slope that allows the eyasses to completely hide from view.  Since we discovered the second eyas on Sunday, there have been clues that a third eyas might be in the nest.

Today, the puzzle was solved. We finally got to see all three at the same time.  Once during a morning feeding and again in the early afternoon.

Update: Since June 1st, we’ve only been able to see two eyasses.