The Terence Cardinal Cooke Red-tailed Hawks are doing great. Early this afternoon I saw a feeding and got to watch the eyasses “jump flap” and explore the ledge. Last year, before the single eyass fledged, it flew from tower to tower and “branched” using the top for of TCC. I hope this gets repeated this year, but with three eyasses.
I was near the nest so I swung by to see if it had fledged yet. It hadn’t as of Thursday morning. They eyasses were hiding under the camera. I suspect the nest is full of flies and they’re staying far from it is a good idea.
The Peregrine Falcon eyasses at 86th and West End are starting to look better each day. They’ve lost almost all of their downy feathers and they are starting to look like they will be ready to fledge soon. I think the tails seem a bit short but other than that they look good.
A few of them also stated to perch rather than sit, and have begun to exercise their wings. I’m amazed at how fast they can flap their wings. It seems about twice as fast as a Red-tailed Hawk eyass.
I visited the nest this morning and the eyasses looked like they were ready to fledge. They were also doing a good job at hiding from the web camera by standing directly under it!
I got an email that the eyasses of 310 West 72nd Street were exploring the roof garden of the building two days ago, but when I went by yesterday I couldn’t see any sign of them. I went by around noon today, and one was exploring the wall above the nest and the other was safely across the street on 263 West End Avenue. Both were being watch from a parent at the top of 263 West End Avenue.
I got up early to see if I could catch a feeding of the youngsters, but they had already been fed when I arrived. I think I have to get there before dawn to catch it.
I did get to watch a parent eat a pigeon and see a few of the eyasses however. They’ve lost most of their downy feathers and are looking a lot less awkward.
