All three Tompkins Square Park red-tailed hawk fledglings are doing well as they practice flying and familiarize themselves with their environment.
Each day, they expand their explorations, flying to areas of the park further from the nest. They are still getting the hang of being birds, but are starting to get curious about hunting as they have been seen chasing after squirrels, studying pigeons, and catching insects. To date, both parents are still feeding the fledglings and they will continue to look after them until the young ones can catch food on their own.
Below are some highlights from this past week.
The fledglings are full-grown and are the same size as their parents. One way to quickly tell them apart from the adults is by the bright yellowish coloring on their chests. Christo and Amelia have white chests.
The fledglings also have pale greenish eyes while the adults have dark brown eyes.
The tail is another good way to identify the juveniles. While the adults have rusty reddish tails, the fledglings have brown banded tail feathers, as displayed below.
After dinner on Tuesday, two of the three hung out in the nest together, watching activity in the park for the rest of the evening - their version of Netflix and chill.
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