6/8, On the Fence

Saturday afternoon found two of the young cathedral hawks perching on the fences around the parking lot near the nest. The accidental fledge had finally come forth from the alcove where he had been lurking for the past week, while the second fledge came out of the spot by the hospital where she'd been hiding.

By the time I got there, both were perched on the fence between the parking lot and chapels.

The first was quietly hanging about close to a small tree.

The second was not far away, but was more active and occasionally making begging noises.

The second, presumably a female, flew into a tree over the Morningside Drive sidewalk.

Mama Isolde flew in to see what was happening.

Both the second fledge and Isolde took off back across the parking lot, the fledge to the fence along 112th St.

And Isolde to the roof on the remains of the ruined transept.

Despite the number of people walking past just feet away, the fledgling was not too weirded out.

Even curious at times.

Time to think about moving to a new spot.

The second fledgling flew back across the parking lot and somehow ended up down on the sidewalk along Morningside. Perhaps it missed a landing on the fence over. It roamed up and down the sidewalk for several minutes trying to figure out how to get around the fence. Finally it decided to climb it, and except for a breather halfway, did so easily.

The second fledge stayed in atop the fence along Morningside for sometime. Meanwhile, it's smaller sib, who looks younger and given its size seems to be a male, perked up a bit. He started climbing the slim branches in the tree near where he'd been perching.

Time passed, an hour or two actually.

The bigger fledgling spend much of the time watching the people passing below. As always, dogs merited an extra look.

Meanwhile, up in the nest, one young hawk remained. Aside from a big burst of flapping around 5:00, it seemed to show little interest in leaving just yet.

Later on it did climb up and down from St. Andrew's head several times. Maybe it was beginning to think about leaping.

As night approached, the second fledgling shifted its way down the fence, eventually ending up in a spot near the playground where it was mostly hidden by ivy. Dusk fell and even the complaining robins finally quieted down.