Tompkins foster fledgling meets his fans

The previous post ended with Flatbush, the Tompkins Square foster hawk fledgling, making himself at home on the central lawn last Friday afternoon.  That is where we pick up here.

Late in the afternoon, the young hawk enjoyed exploring the landscaping.



And running around on the grass.



There are currently signs posted around the central lawn that stay to keep off the grass because of seeding.  Another reason is that the hawk fledglings are at the age where they will run around on the ground and play with sticks and other objects.  They're like toddlers and it's perfectly normal.  Please take note and keep unleashed dogs out of the area.  On this day, a woman let out two terriers onto the central lawn and I nearly had a heart attack.  At the time, Flatbush was in the redwood tree, but if he'd come to the ground, he would not have had a chance against the dogs.



After doing a few laps around the lawn, Flatbush made several attempts to get back up into the redwood tree, but couldn't quite make it.



Instead, he took a running leap off the sledding hill and catapulted himself up on to the fence near the dog run.



Ta-da!





He stayed on the fence for over an hour and attracted a crowd of admirers.





Here's some video:





It's tempting to get really close to the hawks when they perch so low, but please make sure to give them some space. 



The fledglings still don't know how to fly that well and they need plenty of room to take off.  They are wild birds and are not tame.  They will not respond to calls or land on your arm (which would likely require an ER visit!).  Christo often perches on the fences, benches and birdbaths, but he is not being friendly.  He is being tolerant and trusting - tolerant of our presence and he trusts that we will not interfere with his hunting.  Dora is not so trusting, and she keeps her distance.

As it was nearly dark (around 9pm), and Flatbush was still stumbling around on the fences, Ranger Rob took him to a big tree on the east side of the park so he'd have a safe place to roost for the night. 



This hawk is being looked after very well by caring people, and by Christo and Dora. As of this evening (June 20), he was well fed and perched high in a tall tree.

More to come...

Foster hawk fledgling makes himself at home in Tompkins Square

The severe weather today had me worried about the fledgling hawks in Tompkins Square Park, so I joined some fellow hawk-watchers this evening to check on the birds during the deluge.  They were each perched quietly in the trees and looked just fine.

Since my previous post, there's been quite a bit of hawk activity in the park.  I went a little crazy taking photos this weekend, so there will be several updates this week.

After the new fledgling (I will refer to him as Flatbush, since people were calling him that when he arrived), was introduced to the park last Wednesday, I returned on Thursday to see how things were going.  Flatbush was still in the redwood tree on the central lawn where Ranger Rob had placed him the day before.



Christo was busy flying around the park with food, calling to the young hawk.



This was a very good sign as it meant Christo and Dora had accepted the youngster as their own and Christo was trying to lure it to a different spot so he could feed it.  As he flew around, I saw the first fledgling (I've been calling it Ten as it's Christo and Dora's tenth kid) was still up in the willow oak where it had landed the night before.



Neither fledgling was being very cooperative and remained perched in their respective spots.

I returned Friday morning to find Flatbush still in the redwood, but Ten had apparently flown to a different tree.  That fledgling stayed high in the trees all day where I couldn't see it, but that's where the birds are supposed to be, so I didn't worry about it.  I spent the next eleven hours fixated on Flatbush.

Around 10am, Christo, who had apparently given up on trying to entice Flatbush to move to a different tree, brought Flatbush a rat.


Flatbush is on the left mantling a rat while Christo supervises from the right.

As the fledgling originally came from a nest on a stadium light in an urban area, he had never been in a tree until he came to Tompkins Square.  It took him some time to learn to balance and hold onto food.



After a big brunch, Flatbush zonked out for a few hours.  At this point, I just wanted to see him fly out of the redwood as no one had seen him fly yet.  Around 2pm, he began exercising.



Suddenly, he leapt out of the tree!



Flying!



He landed on a fence west of the Krishna Tree, immediately attracting an audience.







He clumsily attempted to run along the fence before deciding to jump down into the grass of the central lawn.



He did a little jogging...



Sprinting...



Played hide-and-seek...



Tried to make friends...



And then settled on the sledding hill to do some people-watching.






More Flatbush antics to come...

Tompkins Square welcomes a second red-tail fledgling

A lot has transpired since the last post.  To recap, the Tompkins Square red-tail baby fledged the nest tree at 8:29pm on Monday, June 12.  This was a surprise (to me) as I'd been there all day and the hawk barely moved.  But fellow hawk-watchers saw it happen and the fledgling flew to some high branches adjacent to the Krishna Tree.  When I returned to the park Tuesday afternoon, the fledgling had made its way back to the nest tree.  If there hadn't been witnesses to the fledge, I wouldn't have known it had happened.

This is how the little (big) guy looked when I left the park Tuesday evening.





Wednesday afternoon, I received a call that wildlife rehabber, Bobby Horvath from WINORR, and the Urban Park Rangers were releasing a second red-tail fledgling in the park, so I rushed over to see what was up.

When I arrived, there was a small crowd of people surrounding this little beauty:



This fledgling was rescued from Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn and had been in the care of WINORR.  As it wasn't safe to release it back to where it came from, it was decided to release it in Tompkins Square with the expectation that Christo and Dora will adopt and care for it.



The fledgling is a male and has a metal band on its left leg.



This is Ranger Rob, also known for his rescue of Shaft.  He is the super hero of hawks.



Ranger Rob released the fledgling into the Steve Jobs redwood tree on the central lawn where it hopped up to the higher branches.



Here is a view of the banded leg.  It will be an easy way to tell the two fledglings apart.







The hawk was placed in the tree around 3:45pm.  Meanwhile, the first fledgling was still hanging around the nest and Christo and Dora flew over the central lawn a few times. It was obvious they were checking out the new hawk, but were maybe wondering why suddenly they had an extra kid.  I was told that when the fledgling starts to cry for food, the adults will respond and feed it.  As the fledgling was well-fed when it arrived in the park, it stayed pretty quiet and the adults tended to the first fledgling at the nest.

Several hawk-watchers stuck it out for a few hours waiting for the baby to cry and the adults to respond.  As the sun set around 8pm and it started to get dark, I saw who I thought was Christo come flying over the central lawn.  But, it wasn't Christo.

It was the first fledgling!



I'm pretty sure this was the second flight for the young hawk, but it was the first time I saw it fly.  It sailed right over the redwood tree and landed high in the same willow oak as last year's first fledgling.



From there, both young hawks could see each other and the one in the redwood made tiny peeping sounds - not loud enough to be food cries.  Below, you can see the first fledgling's lovely tail.



I left the park at 9pm as it was dark.  The first fledgling looked like it was going to roost in the willow oak and I'm guessing the second fledgling stayed in the redwood.  Christo and Dora were last seen in the NE corner of the park.  I'm hoping they make contact with the new kid in the morning.

Many thanks to Ranger Rob and the Urban Park Rangers for being patient and answering a thousand questions.

And special thanks to Bobby Horvath who does this work out of the kindness of his heart.  We previously featured him rescuing a hawk on the Lower East Side. Please consider making a donation to WINORR, as they are a non-profit who care for countless animals 24/7.

Tompkins Square hawk fledges!

Stop the presses!  A few minutes after I posted the past update, a fellow hawk-watcher let me know that the Tompkins Square hawk fledged at 8:29 this evening.  The little one is full of surprises!

Washington Square hawk fledges, Tompkins Square branches

It was a big weekend for downtown hawks when the Washington Square chick fledged the nest on Saturday morning, and the Tompkins Square nestling branched out and let us get a good view of it.

On Friday, I visited Washington Square with hopes of seeing the young hawk fledge.  For several preceding days, it looked ready to go.  Early in the afternoon, the nestling put on a show of wing-flapping and hopping up and down on the window ledge.





At one point, the hawklet was temporarily upstaged by another celebrity bird who was in the park...



After about 15 minutes of vigorous exercise, the hawklet settled down to rest, so I left the park.  At 6am the following morning, the hawk took the big leap and left the window ledge.  The NYU hawk cam has video of the moment here.

I returned to Washington Square Saturday afternoon to see the fledgling, who was exploring a structure on a building east of the park.





Urban Hawks has some nice photos of the fledgling, and Roger Paw has extensive coverage of the Washington Square hawk family.

Back in Tompkins Square, the hawk nestling had left the nest and was exploring a branch of the tree.  In doing so, we finally had a good look at the hawk from head to tail.





The hawklet did a little stretching and flapping, but remained generally mellow. 



Over the last couple of days, it's been perching on the branch for long periods of time, exercising occasionally. As far as I can tell, it has all its feathers and it looks physically ready to fly, so it's now up to the hawk to make that big decision.

Here is some video of the hawklet on Sunday, as it observed activities in the park and took in the sounds of the Eric Paulin Jazz Ensemble.




As of this posting, the Tompkins Square hawklet has not yet fledged. I'll post more photos of it branching this week.

Countdown to fledge time

It's been a week since the last post and not much has changed in the world of the Tompkins Square hawks.  We've had another week of gloomy cold weather, so I thought maybe today's sun might bring about some nest activity.

Late in the day, the hawklet roused itself for a few jumps and wing flaps.







As far as I know, the nestling has not branched yet, but often perches on the edge of the nest.

By contrast, the youngster over in Washington Square has been very active running, jumping and flapping on the ledge that houses its nest.  Roger Paw has been doing a great job documenting that hawk family, and posted a series of photos that show the hawklet playing with a plastic bag.  I tuned in to the live NYU web cam yesterday in time to see the young hawk playing with a plastic bottle ring.  I was afraid the ring might slip over the hawk's head, but thankfully, it didn't.  The incident highlights the importance of keeping control of our trash and its effect on wildlife.

Meanwhile, back in Tompkins Square, the nestling showed off its wing and tail feathers.  The wings look full size, but the tail is still a bit short.



Baby and mom, Dora...



Dad Christo makes a vertical drop into the nest with a dinner pigeon.



I've been thinking about the differences in each of the last four nesting seasons for these hawks.  Their first nest on the Christodora with three kids was exciting as I'd never seen anything like that before and it was an entirely new experience. I had no idea what to expect and the nest on the air-conditioner seemed so precarious.

The following year, the hawks chose and even more precarious location on an even smaller air-conditioner overlooking the traffic on Avenue A.  I had major anxiety that whole season, but all three offspring fledged successfully.

Christo and Dora made me so happy last year when they chose to nest in a tree in the park.  Finally, it seemed they were doing something smart and safe.  The three kids from that nest seemed so well-adjusted and the whole family had an air of ease about them.  The parents appeared to be much more relaxed and organized.

This year has been odd from the start.  Personally, I didn't like the location of the new nest and still don't understand why they didn't choose to reuse the previous one, which seemed perfect.  We've had a lot of bad weather this spring, which could have affected the eggs, but we'll never know for sure.  And with just one kid, the behavior of the birds is much different.  Christo and Dora don't seem to have as much to do, so they spend a lot of time either quietly perched near the nest, or more recently, outside the park.  As the chick is an only child, it has all the food and space to itself, so there is no competition for those things.  The chick hasn't displayed as much curiosity as those in years past - this time last year, the kids were actively exploring the nest tree.

Maybe this hawklet just needs more time to develop, or maybe it just has a naturally mellow disposition, but I hope to see it get more exercise as the weather improves this week. 

The Washington Square hawklet hatched on April 16, and I am estimating the Tompkins Square hawk hatched two days later.  Last year, the first Tompkins Square egg hatched on/around April 23, and the first fledge was on June 9.  The Washington Square hawklet looks ready to fledge any time, and I expect the Tompkins Square hawk to follow. 

I ended today's hawk visit with the beautiful Dora:



Note she now has all her tail feathers, so she re-grew the ones that came out in March.  She is not expected to molt until July, so it's interesting to see her tail is back to normal now.



Other hawk nests in the city have already started fledging. Pale Male's kids were first this year. You can follow their progress over at Urban Hawks.

And check out Morningside Hawks for updates on nests at Grants Tomb, St John the Divine and locations further uptown.