Monday, July 7, 2014

Weekend hawklights

Now that all three Tompkins Square hawks have left the nest, I find myself missing being camped out on the corner of Ave B & 9th Street.  I spent nearly two months there, watching the birds and socializing with neighbors.  I took it for granted that I could walk out there at any time and find 3-5 hawks waiting and posing all in one place.

This is the last shot I took of Dora flying off the nest on July 1, taking some leftovers into the park.  Hawklet #3 is there and would fly out the next day.

Dora and nestling #3

Empty nest syndrome aside, it's great to see the three youngsters explore the park.  They're getting accustomed to trees, having spent their entire lives on an air-conditioner.  I find it interesting that all three birds fledged to the buildings across 9th Street and seemed to prefer rooftops to treetops.

The young hawks are getting good at flying and are discovering the other creatures of the park.  They are especially interested in squirrels.

Red tail fledgling and squirrel

Want!

Run!

The chase

The three siblings are still hanging out together.  At this point, I really can't tell them apart.

Red tail fledglings

Red tail fledglings

Kids will be kids...no biting your sibling!

Love bite

This one could be #3.  I'm not 100% positive, but it was laying around in the trees on Sunday and was still practicing jumping and flapping.  It also looked a bit fluffier than the other two, but it's almost impossible to tell.

Laying down on the job

Red tail fledgling

Red tail fledgling

The best time to see all the hawks together now is at feeding time.  Dad Christo gathers the kids into one area and brings food to them.  You can hear his high-pitched call to dinner as well as whining from the fledglings.

For photos from the final week of the Nest Cam, check out Francois Portmann's website.


See more hawk photos on my Flickr page:

City hawks 3
City hawks 2
City hawks 1

Previous hawk posts.

9 comments:

  1. I've been catching them at dinner time, which seems to be after 5pm. Last night, Christo flew in around 6:30 and fed two kids over by the chess tables. He then went behind the bathrooms (after the gate is locked, I think he likes it back there), where he took a quick bath in the birdbath and caught another rat and took it back to the dinner area. They're all pretty vocal, so listen for what sounds like seagulls...

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  2. Be nice to the kids, squirrels!

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  3. Thanks! I'll be looking for them.

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  4. These pictures are great, btw!

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  5. Christo (& Dora) seems to be the most obsessively orderly RT. First he had the rats in a row on the a/c and they were feed sitting in a neat row each waiting his or her turn. Now he is making them come to the dining room to be fed. No individual deliveries. Wouldn't the other hawk parents love that?

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  6. What does RT stand for?

    Signed,
    The abbreviation challenged reader.

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  7. Great pictures.

    I've been feeling the same. Every time I cross B, I reflexively look up at the nest. Uselessly.

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