Saturday evening after the rain storm, I visited the red-tailed hawk nest across from J. Hood Wright Park in upper Manhattan. I arrived in the middle of feeding. Two baby hawk heads were in view, avidly taking tidbits.
Did I saw two? Let's make that three!
Yep, three.
After about ten minutes, dinner was over and momma flew off west with the leftovers and/or garbage.
The nestlings were active for a few minutes, crawling about and doing some wing stretches.
They're getting big fast.
Not long after the kids all collapsed in a snooze pile, mama returned and perched on the railing above.
Keeping an eye on sleeping nestlings and on the streetlife below.
And on the photographer.
12-13 minutes on the railing and then time to hop into the nest with the nestlings. No, apparently she's not going to stay. The mother found another bit of uneaten food.
And again took off toward the far side of the park. I wondered if she has a favorite spot over there for eating, or if she just likes to dump the trash on Riverside Drive.
This time she was gone for a while, like 25-30 minutes.
Just before sunset the mother returned to the fire escape. A half minute later the father also arrived, carrying what looks like will be tomorrow morning's breakfast.
Both parents stuck the area, and as sunset went by it even looked like they were preparing to roost on the fire escape railings.
Those babies are so cute! Looks like a good year so far for the city hawks.
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