Urban Hawks

I returned to the Peregrine Falcon nest around 6 pm. I had gotten “intel” that the fledgling on the windowsill had stayed there all day, and at least two young hawks had gone to the roof of 530. When I arrived their still was a fledgling on the windowsill and at times one or two of the other young hawks were off the nest. But the fledglings were returning to the nest tower.

It might be possible that all of the hawks made at least one flight off the nest, but we’ll only know for sure when we see them all off of the nest tower!

Having been at multiple Red-tailed Hawk fledges, I want to caution folks not to follow know-it-alls who create a group panic about every little thing. If you think something is wrong, don’t diagnose the problem yourself. There are a number of folks live near the nest, who are observing it, and have experience with Peregrine Falcons. Talk to them before jumping to conclusions. Or contact a licensed rehabber and ask their advice.

A few years ago, a Red-tailed Hawk fledged too early at Washington Square Park and spent a week on a ledge of an NYU building. It was fine and being fed by its parents, and eventually left. But rehabbers got tons of calls, and often sent volunteers to check things out. This only wasted the time of the rehabbers and their volunteers.

I say this because the young fledgling who spent the day on the windowsill, is most likely fine. It could have fledged a bit too early and needs a day or two to get settled. I suspect when it’s hungry, the parents will encourage it to move. But no one should go vigilante and try to move it off the ledge. Let a licensed rehabber make the call. (But there is also a small chance it has frounce or lead poisoning. But that’s for a trained expert to diagnose.)

The fledglings were on new spots this evening. One was on the roof of the church and one on the building due east of church. In addition, one of the fledglings chased after its mother who had food. These fledgling look like they’re going to be tons of fun.

Two Peregrine Falcon eyasses became fledglings early this morning. It was unclear to me who went first. One ended up on the roof of 530 West End Avenue and the other ended up on a windowsill on the same building.

The one of the roof disappeared from view before 9 am. It made a strong flight around the church tower but then it became unclear where it went. I might have gone far.

The one on the windowsill stayed put, even sleeping for a long period. It was still there when I left around 1:00.

Two eyasses remain on the nest and the parents stayed close by the nest.

I’m going to go back tonight after the brief rain storm is forecast and give another report.

Over the last few days, the parents have switched from feeding the eyasses pigeon, to just delivering sparrows one at a time to each eyass. It’s the logical transition from feeding them to getting them ready to eat on their own. I couldn’t stay long but they’re looking very close to fledging.

The West End Peregrines eyasses look to be in their final week on the nest. (I’m going away on Friday, so I hope to see them fledge before I leave for two weeks.)

The parents are hunting in view of the eyasses and seem to be showing them “what to do”. The parents behavior switched as soon as the eyasses lost their downy feathers.

The eyasses are also flapping their wings more and have begun to make short flights. The tower has four main ledges, and now rather than run inside the tower to change ledges, they make short flights to get to the next one.

This is my first time spending more than one or two visits at a Peregrine Falcon nest, so I’m not sure what happens next. It’s a lot of fun observing behavior and seeing what comes next.

One of the eyasses at the 86th and West End Peregrine Falcon nest wouldn’t stop crying for food today. It just cried and cried. However, it looked as though it had a full crop, so it seemed like it was crying for no good reason!

The adult male was on guard duty while I was there, although he did hunt a number of times. He caught a pigeon, but the bird escaped from him before he could kill it.

As I was packing up all four eyasses were visible.