May 17, 2016

5/16, St. John the Divine

Cathedral Hawk Nestling - 8515

Early Monday evening I headed over to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine to see if I could get a better count of how many babies were in the red-tailed hawk nest overlooking Morningside Park. A couple days earlier using a small pair of binocular I thought I had gotten a couple glimpses of a third fuzzy head.

It was initially quiet, but one nestling got up and looked around for a bit, then settled back into the nest.

Then a bit after 7:00, mama Madeleine returned to the nest.

Madeleine & Child - 8576

She didn't start in on a feeding as you might expect but perched there for a bit. IT seemed that perhaps he had brought food, but with the nestlings getting a bit older, it's time for them to figure out how to pull off some tidbits for themselevs.

Meanwhile, I cast about for better viewpoints and wasn't having a lot of luck.

Madeleine - 8673

A real feeding finally did start, and it went on for some time. In the midst, Bruce arrived with his much better camera set-up and started shooting video. It only took a few minutes before we got our first glimpse of a third baby hawk in the nest. Much better looks came along not long later. You can view the video on Bruce's Urban Hawks blog.

Eventually Madeleine left the nest and headed over to the hospital roof to finish her own meal, where she was also harassed by blue jays. While she was eating, papa Norman flew in and perched on the cathedral roof close to the nest.

Catheral Hawk - 8725

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