Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Farewell to the Tompkins hawk fledglings

It's the end of August and I think it's safe to say Flatbush has left the neighborhood.  I last saw him in Tompkins Square on Sunday, August 13, and I have not had any reports of him since.

Tompkins fledgling #2

Flatbush came to us on June 14, and he gave us two and a half months of thrills and delight, so a big Thank You goes out to Wildlife In Need Of Rescue And Rehabilitation (WINORR) and Ranger Rob from the NYC Parks Department who introduced the fledgling to our park.  And big thanks to Christo and Dora who adopted him as their own and taught him the ways of the hawk.

June 16:

Tompkins fledgling #2

Ranger Rob introducing Flatbush to his new home:

Hawk adoption in Tompkins Square

I am also inclined to say the native fledgling, Ten, has gone off on her own.

Tompkins fledgling #1

I last saw her on Thursday, August 24.  She was heard by hawk-watchers in the park on Saturday, August 27, but no one has seen or heard her since.

Tompkins fledgling #1

The photo below is the last one I took of her. It's not a great photo, but I had a feeling at the time it might be the last time I would see her.

Last look at Tompkins Fledgling #1

She's come a long way in three and a half months!

Red-tail nestling

People often ask me where the young hawks go when they leave the park.  I wish I knew!  They instinctively disperse, but I don't know if they fly a few miles away, or migrate somewhere completely different.  I also don't know if they return.  Flatbush is banded, so if he does decide to visit, he will be identifiable.

All we can do is wish them safe travels and a long healthy life.

Although it's sad to bid farewell to the fledglings, we still have Christo and Dora, who should stick around and defend their territory.  Below, Dora watches activity on First Avenue from a favorite hawk perch atop the Village View apartment complex.

Dora

Last Thursday, Dora escorted this kestrel out of the park.

Dora and a kestrel

Meanwhile, Christo stayed vigilant atop St Brigid's church on Avenue B.

Christo

He's still molting and appears to be in need of five tail feathers and several wing feathers.  He'll be back to his handsome self soon.

Molting Christo


For anyone missing the hawk kids, I have a collection of Flatbush photos here.

And photos of Ten can be found here.





Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Drama as Tompkins hawk fledgling tangles with a fence

Being a hawk kid in the city isn't easy, even if you have the super-duo, Christo and Dora, as parents.  The native fledgling (I call her 'Ten' as she's the tenth offspring for Christo and Dora) has had a bit of a rough ride recently.

I haven't said anything on this blog as I don't want to cause any unnecessary panic, but Ten had been displaying odd behavior for a few weeks which may have been due to illness or injury.  No one knows, but she has been carefully observed by a lot of people and what ever was affecting her seems to have gone.

Tompkins fledgling #1

Back in mid-July, Ten was very active, swooping around the park and diving at prey.  She looked to be well on her way to gaining independence and I really thought she might be on her own by early August.  However, she suddenly seemed to slow down and spent a great deal of time sleeping in or very near the park. Young hawks do sleep a lot, but she seemed to be sleeping more than normal and was no longer interested in hunting.  She was eating and flying, though, so that was good. For the last week or so, she's regained her energy and looks to be back on track.

Tompkins fledgling #1

On Saturday afternoon, Ten came swooping through the park so fast, I couldn't keep up with her.  By the time I reached her near the St Mark's entrance, people were saying she had caught and killed a rat. Great news! The rat, however, had been dropped behind a bench and the hawk wasn't interested in retrieving it. Just as I was feeling disappointed that she might not know how to pick up her food, Ten suddenly dove into a flower bed near the nest tree by the Temperance Fountain.

Tompkins fledgling catches a rat in the underbrush

It's not visible in the photo above, but Ten is sinking her talons into a rat.  I expected her to fly up to a tree, but she surprised me by flying very low along the fence.

Tompkins fledgling flies with a rat

Tompkins fledgling flies with a rat

I think the rat may have been too heavy as she could barely clear the low fence with it.

Tompkins fledgling barely clears a fence while carrying a rat

People sitting on the benches got a nice surprise when the rat came sailing by about six feet off the ground.

Tompkins fledgling flies with a rat

I was elated to see the hawk fly off with the rat and not drop it.  But, half a second later, my elation turned to horror as I saw this:

Tompkins fledgling #1 stuck in a fence

I think the rat was just too heavy and the hawk couldn't manage to get to the top of the tall fence along the skateboard/hockey area.  She made it about two thirds of the way up.

Below, you can see she is doing the splits, with her right talon hanging from the fence and the rat still clutched in her left talon.

Tompkins fledgling #1 stuck in a fence

Aaaaarrrrrrrgggggg!

Tompkins fledgling #1 stuck in a fence

Tompkins fledgling #1 stuck in a fence

On closer inspection, I could see she was not actually stuck, but holding on to the fence with her talon.  Even so, what a predicament.

Tompkins fledgling #1 stuck in a fence

I took a video, but stopped as I thought I should call for help.  About three minutes after the video ends, the hawk freed herself and flew to a tree back by the Temperance Fountain.  By then, a pretty big crowd had gathered and everyone cheered.



Back at the tree, Ten cried loudly.  I'm not sure if she was announcing she'd successfully caught her own meal, or if she was screaming about what had just happened to her.

Tompkins fledgling announces she has a rat

As the fledgling kept vocalizing loudly, Dora (not pictured) flew into the tree with what looked like a mouse.  She may have been responding to the cries and thought her kid needed food.  After a couple of minutes, Dora took off but left the food behind.

Tompkins fledgling with a rat

The incident with the fence left the fledgling with a scrape on the back of her right leg, but she seemed fine otherwise.  The following day, the scrape looked to be healing alright, so I think she'll be ok. 

Tompkins fledgling #1

The fledglings always manage to do something to give hawk-watchers a collective heart attack!

Previous hawk dramas:

Shaft gets rescued by Ranger Rob on 9th Street
Bobby Horvath to the rescue on Catherine Street 
Bobby Horvath to the rescue at Washington Square
Wayward fledgling on Avenue A
Fledgling tearing up window screens on Avenue A
 
 





Monday, August 21, 2017

Solar eclipse over NYC

Today we had a partial solar eclipse over New York City. I've never tried taking photos of the sun before, so this offered the perfect opportunity and it was pretty cool to see. If you missed it today, the next one over the region will be in 2024.

Partial solar eclipse over NYC

Partial solar eclipse over NYC

Partial solar eclipse over NYC

Partial solar eclipse over NYC

Partial solar eclipse over NYC





Thursday, August 17, 2017

Hawk family weekend

This last weekend was a busy one for the Tompkins Square hawks, and I was able to see all four of them, which was a real treat.

On Saturday, the native fledgling, Ten, spent a whopping 7.5 hours up on this cellphone transmitter on Avenue A and St Mark's Place.

Tompkins fledgling #1

Tompkins fledgling #1

It got to be pretty tedious watching her up there, but she seemed to enjoy herself.

Tompkins fledgling #1

On Sunday, I found her just as she hopped out of the nest at 12:30pm.  According to other hawk-watchers, she'd gone into the nest around 11am and apparently took a nap up there.

After she left the nest tree, there was a great frenzy of hawks flying around and screaming.  On the east side of the park, Christo, Dora and one of the fledglings tussled in a tree, causing a big commotion.  They were behind some leaves, so I couldn't see which fledgling was involved, nor could I see if they were squabbling over food.

All three hawks took off to the west side of the park where they settled in the big elm north of the chess tables and proceeded to loudly vocalize for about 20 minutes.

Christo & Dora

Above, Dora is perched on the large branch while Christo is below her.  Below, you can hear them vocalizing at the very beginning of the video.  They were really loud until I took out the video camera, at which time they went quiet!



The hawks stayed mostly hidden in the tree for about an hour, and then a fledgling flew out and went to the big elm that overhangs the pathway near the St Mark's Place entrance.  A closer look revealed the fledgling to be Flatbush (note the band on his leg).

Tompkins fledgling #2

When he landed in the tree, he knocked out a small dead branch, which fell onto some people sitting on the bench below.  Ooops!

Tompkins fledgling #2

As I was watching Flatbush, Ten flew by and she eventually settled in the Krishna Tree.

Tompkins fledgling #1

After a full day loafing on the cellphone transmitter, it was nice to see her more active in the park.  As I watched her, something on the ground behind me caught her eye and she dove straight over my head.

Tompkins fledgling #1

Tompkins fledgling #1

What ever she was going for in the bushes got away.

Looking for prey

She then flew to the big elm where Flatbush had previously been, but he was gone at this point and I wasn't able to keep track of where he went.

Tompkins fledgling 
#1

Ten scavenged for scraps, turning up this pile of feathers.

Beak full o' feathers

A squirrel decided to tease her, which you can see in the video below. 



Flatbush previously had a similar squirrel experience.

After dealing with the squirrel, Ten hopped down to a fence to greet her adoring fans.

Tompkins fledgling #1

Tompkins fledgling #1

She didn't stick around for long, though, and took off to chase some pigeons.

Tompkins fledgling #1

I didn't see her catch any prey, but she put on a good show and made several promising swoops across the park.

Tompkins fledgling #1


You can see more recent photos of the entire hawk family on my Flickr page.






Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Hunting with Christo

I spent some quality time with Christo this last weekend as he hunted in Tompkins Square.  Both fledglings and Dora were around, and it's his job to provide for them all, so he had a lot to keep him busy. 

Christo

On Friday, I followed the sound of hawk screaming to the east side of the park where the native fledgling, Ten, and mom Dora were hidden in the trees along Avenue B.  They both loudly called out as Christo delivered some prey.  After he took off from the trees, Dora quieted down, so I presumed she took the meal.  The fledgling, however, kept on begging to be fed.  She has a distinctive two-part call, which you can hear in this video:



As she carried on in the background, Christo patiently studied the nearby shrubbery, suddenly diving when his target came into view.  He was so fast, I almost lost him in the frame.

Christo dropping down for prey

About four feet from the ground, he flipped right-side-up and came down talons-first.

Christo dropping down for prey

Christo went out of view in the bushes, then popped up a few seconds later empty-taloned.  What ever he'd aimed for had escaped this time.

Christo

With the fledgling still screaming high in a tree, Christo casually took a look around a landscaped area from a low viewpoint.

Christo

Not satisfied with that position, he flew up a bit higher...

Christo

...to a lamp post.

Christo

Then he was off again.  I watched him repeat the same pattern (watch, dive, miss) in the same area a few more times before I had to leave for the day.

Christo

I returned on Saturday just in time to see Christo catch a rat in the same area where he'd been hunting the previous day.

Christo with a rat

After eating the head, he flew the body to the west side of the park where Ten had been hanging out on a rooftop all day.

Christo with a rat

Christo with a rat

Christo with a rat

After taking the rat to a tree, Christo called a few times for Ten (or who ever was in the area) to come and pick up dinner.  No one answered, so he ate it himself.  I went to check the spot where Ten had been and she was no longer there, so she was either not interested or was eating leftovers somewhere else.  I always feel bad when no one answers Christo's dinner call as he works so hard to get the food.  In this case, though, he reaped the reward himself.

More to come...