A week or three after the eggs have hatched and red-tail nestlings are still young enough that they can't be left entirely alone such, one of the parents will always remain within eyeshot of the nest. But sometimes you'll find both parents perched together not too far away. Monday's nice evening was one of those times, when Isolde and Norman were perched side-by-side on the tall chimney at St. Luke's Hospital.
The spot is about 175 yards from the nest, and Isolde could frequently be seen looking over her shoulder in that direction.
About 10 minutes later she flew over to the cathedral to check on the babies.
There followed was what seemed vigorous poking about inside the nest before Isolde eventually settled into a feeding. She was deep inside while doing so, though, so the nestlings were never visible.
Dinner took about 15 or 20 minutes. Isolde looked around for a bit, checking that everything was as it should be, including sleepy nestlings.
And then she settled down on one side of the nest to enjoy the view and watch whatever might fly past.
Norman had apparently done pretty well in his paternal duties for the day, as he hung around on top of the chimney the entire time and was only seen to take off about 15 minutes after the feeding ended.
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