Fun with squirrels and a cedar cone

It's just another lazy hot afternoon...

The early summer heat has been taking a toll on this human, but doesn't seem to have affected the Tompkins Square red-tailed hawk fledglings much, although they do spend a lot of time resting in the high shady parts of the trees.

Rest time over, it's time to play.

Here in the city, we don't have much space for exercise, so people and hawks sometimes have to share. As long as everyone stays out of each other's way, it's all good.

The toy of choice today is a cedar cone.

The hawks have already began catching their own prey (at least one has caught a pigeon), so playing with objects helps them strengthen their hunting skills.

All the young hawks want one thing:  Squirrels!

Tompkins squirrels are big, fierce, smart, and extremely agile. Catching one takes real skill, and the fledgling hawks haven't achieved that level yet.  

 

Yet.

Some day, there will be a well-earned squirrel meal, but in the mean time, these squirrels rule the park.

Swooping and play-hunting

How do hawks keep cool in the summer heat? One method is to perch with wings slightly opened, as this Tompkins Square fledgling demonstrates.

Another method is to create your own breeze, as the fledgling does as it dives off the tree and swoops to the ground.

Time for some frolicking in the cool grass.

This hawk found a leftover snack hidden in the bushes. Yummy!

Post-meal relaxing:

After resting a while, the fledgling found some leaves to tackle and fly around.

Then, a piece of wood.

Two of the fledglings perch in some brambles where they can see all the squirrels running around in the grass.

Time for some low swooping:

Playing with leaves and sticks, diving from branches, and swooping low across the ground is all practice for hunting and catching prey. So far, these young hawks have been acing all their lessons.

More to come.

Sunday brunch with Mom

Despite the sweltering heat this last weekend, the Tompkins Square hawk family went about their hawk business as usual. Sunday morning, mom Amelia shared brunch with two of her kids.

Below, Amelia is on the left.

The fledgling on the right took off to do what ever it is hawks do, leaving its sibling to finish the meal with Mom.

The usual procedure is for Amelia to pull off bite-sized pieces of pigeon meat to feed to the kid, but the young hawk grew impatient and attempted to take the pigeon for itself.

Amelia kept her talons in the pigeon and took it back after a brief disagreement.

Mom and kid took bites from the same piece...

Looking at these two, I'm inclined to think the fledgling is a female. It's about the same size as Amelia, but the thing that makes me think it's female is the width of its chest. Amelia has a very broad chest compared to her mate, Christo, and this young hawk has a very broad chest as well. It would be nice to see the fledgling perched next to Christo for comparison.

That last bite doesn't go down so easy!

Later, one of the young hawks demonstrated the art of flying through and landing on brambly branches.

It can't be easy navigating the trees with wings as big as these.

The hawk briefly displayed its full self, showing off its beautiful markings. The yellowish chest will eventually turn white as the hawk matures over the next few weeks.

For now, the fledglings still have that cute wide-eyed baby-faced look.

This one demonstrated some expert moves diving out of a tree and swooping over my head.

Looking at this soaring hawk, it's hard to believe this is the same (or one of the three siblings) bird just seven weeks ago:

Stay tuned...