A hot Thursday evening found two of the cathedral red-tailed hawk fledglings coping with their hostile neighbors in Morningside Park in the trees around 114th and 115th streets. Robin alarms first alerted me to the location, but blue jays, a kestrel and a mocking bird were also involved in the mix.
While initially trying to figure out where a hawk might be in the all the tree-top noise, I was startled when one bombed past, fleeing a harassing kestrel. He ended up perched in an exposed treetop below the 115th St. overlook fountain.
After six or seven minutes of harassment there, the fledge took off and disappeared into the tree tops near the park's dog run. While trying to figure out where he had gone, I realized from the noise that there must be another young red-tail somewhere close by. Within minutes, both ended up perched next to each other.
They hopped about a bit, with one heading over to a nearby treetop for a moment.
But back together.
Hmmm, there seem to be some distinct physical differences.
Shortly after the second or even third blue jay joined the harassing chorus, one of the pair bolted south and perched near the park's upper lawn. As I headed down to see where he had gone, I could hear the ching-chig-ching of the kestrel returning to add to the overhead din.
The fledge was not far from the park's 114th St. entrance.
He wasn't happy here, but at least the only harassers were robins. And people with cameras.
And damn, the air was warm and muggy.
No comments:
Post a Comment