On a recent walk around the neighborhood, we heard some birds making a commotion, looked up, and spotted the Tompkins Square red-tailed hawk fledgling perched on a rooftop.
The young hawk (now three months old) took in its surroundings from the high perch, then performed a few stretching exercises before it took off and disappeared over the buildings.
A short while later, we found it perched atop the cross of St Nicholas of Myra church on Avenue A, a favorite look-out spot for hawk parents, Christo and Amelia.
After a brief rest, the fledgling took off towards the park and we caught a nice view of it soaring high overhead.
To our surprise, the fledgling landed on the roof of the Christodora building on Avenue B, where its parents were also perched. The whole hawk family could be seen looking over Tompkins Square. In the photo below, Amelia is on the far left, the fledgling is to the right of her, and Christo is on the far right.
Here is a closer look at Amelia watching the fledgling frolic on the slanted roof. Its antics were reminiscent of those of the fledgling's half-sibling from 2015 who slid around on the dome of Most Holy Redeemer church.
This is a closer look at Christo who looks a little strange because he's going through his summer molt. The color on his head and shoulders looks washed out and he appears a bit scraggly, but he's fine.
Later, just before sunset, the fledgling settled into a tree for the evening. It appears to be doing very well, and looks healthy and on track to gain its independence soon.
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