May 9, 2012

5/9, Cathedral Nestlings in View

At three weeks since hatch, today seemed like the day to finally get a first look at the nestlings in the red-tailed hawk nest at St. John the Divine. Sure enough, one was visible when I first arrived at the nest site in the early evening, and in moments there was a second.

First Look at Cathedral Nestlings

Big enough to stand up and look out over the nest edge. One suspects that the nestlings would have been visible if someone had had the patience to mount a long watch on the nest over the weekend.

First Look at Cathedral Nestlings

Big enough that when one of the duo stands up to try flapping its little wings, Mama Isolde has to lean aside lest she get smacked on the beak.

Little Wing Flaps

After ten or fifteen minutes, the little ones quit wiggling around so much and settled down for a nap. The fuzz of one could just barely be seen through the nest sticks.

Papa Norman flew in about 7:00 with food.

Norman Delivers Dinner

He conferred with Isolde with less than a minute before taking off and flying across the street to his favorite perch on a hospital chimney. There was no feeding to immediately follow at the nest, although the wiggling around did become more active for a bit.

So for the moment, the expected two nestlings in the cathedral nest have revealed themselves. It's still possible that there is a third, as the cathedral nest has a history of a third hatch but with a slow revelation of the third baby. Last year it was right about four weeks after first hatch before the extra nestling was discovered. So we'll see.

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