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...
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