6/29, Three Together

On Wednesday evening, it was easy to find all three cathedral red-tail fledglings. Just watch one and the other two will show up.

The first fledgling was quickly spotted on a ledge between the nave and the north transept arch.

He was sitting quietly, perhaps recently fed, and preened and scratched now and again.

Soon enough, a second fledgling was spotted 40 yards east on the buttress between the arch and choir. It was apparently picking over a carcass, and only its backside was visible, bobbing up and down.

Twenty or 25 minutes later, the second fledge flew over to join its sibling.

The second fledge was more active, moving about the ledge, occasionally disappearing out of sight behind the lip and re-appearing a minute later 20 feet away.

But one time when it disappeared and re-appeared, I wondered how it moved from there to over there so quickly. It turned out that all three fledgings were up there.

The trio spent 15-20 minutes together, preening and scratching.

And perhaps picking over carcasses of old meals somewhere out of sight.

About 7:00, one fledge decided it needed some time to itself and took off.

It perched above St. Ansgar Chapel for a few minutes.

Then flew back west and tried to land on the roof of the nave, but missed. It turned around and flew across the street to land on the hospital roof. And in their respective spots, the three fledglings remained until after I left.