6/30, Heed the Robins

Friday evening there was robin noise suggesting that hawks were around. The next day, the robin's were even more helpful.

Saturday

5:38 p.m. - From corner of 110th St. and Columbus Ave. (Morningside Drive), it's obvious there's an adult red-tailed hawk perched atop 301 West 110th. It's Isolde.

She was apparently not alone up there, as subsequent checks revealed a small bird flitting about, giving her what-for. A bright red color and what seemed like a crest (yes, hard to see at a distant of 500 feet or so, but still...) suggested a cardinal.

5:40 - After walking in the southeast corner of Morningside Park, then along the lower park path up along the west side of the ball fields (with Little League game in progress), there's plainly a hawk around as the robin complaints in the area are pretty thick.

5:55 - Didn't find the hawk along the path ascending up to Morningside Drive. Now walking down the street, it's obvious that there has to be hawk in the park trees right around 11th St. The robin ruckus is roaring.

5:59 - And there he is, perched about 20-25 feet right above where park path join near the southwest corner entrance.

I walked right under him before, but didn't look far enough out on that branch.

6:06 - He looks pretty content with his spot and is mostly just looking around at the robins.

I say "he" because the light belly band indicates that this is the cathedral nest hawkling that we thought looked smallest, i.e., "Runt", and so was either last-born or male or both. Without another fledgling nearby to compare sizes, one can no longer be so sure that he's that much smaller, but let's continue to say "he" for the time being.

6:20 - Runt looking disinclined to move, I walked up the path along the ballfield again. Little League game still in progress, so there's a lot of noise to mask robins in this particular spot. But for whatever reason, I look up at the same branch where a hawk fledgling was perched last night and... there's one there today.

Again, this is a tough spot to get pictures of a perched fledgling. I'm also amazed nobody is asking what I'm up to.

Hard to tell from the angle, but the belly band doesn't look too heavy. So this is probably Eldest.

6:26 - Back to check on Runt. He's turned around and is looking up the park path.

Or over his shoulder at a robin.

6:35 - Moving up the path, is it even possible to see the fledgling perched overlooking the ballfield? Just barely from a few spots. And I'm not the only one checking her out.

A squirrels wanders out on her branch and they look each over for a minute before the squirrel moves off.

6:40 - Check on Runt again.

6:43 - And exit. Family dinner is Saturday this weekend.

Sunday

Spent a few hours checking over two parks for hawks and luck wass pretty bad. Even 90 minutes spent at Morningside Park, from about 6:50 to 8:15, revealed just a total of one sighting. At about 7:15, a hawk flew across the south end of the park. I thought then that it was probably an adult heading toward 111th St.