6/18, St. John the Divine

Two and possibly all three of the red-tailed hawk fledglings were on view at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine on early Wednesday evening.

The first bird to be sighted was perched on the cross atop St. Savior chapel, but he was eying the apse roofline above and immediately took to the air. As I tried to figure out where he had gone, another hawk burst off the turret above the big statue of St. Thomas, and a moment a fledgling alit on the same turret.

It seemed perhaps as if a food delivery had just been made and the fledgling had been working his way up to the food. But perhaps not as he only stayed in the turret for a few moments and then flew one turret to the right above the statue of St. James the Great.

Stayed there a few moments, and then again another turret to the right, to the spot above St. Peter where the adult hawks were collecting sticks early this year.

Again it seemed like a hawk took off from over on the turret above St. Thomas. Was there another fledgling that I missed spotting?

After a walk around to the cathedral close and checking the south side of the apse, I instead found a fledgling perched near the west end of the cathedral on a nave rooftop.

A warm, muggy day and he was trying to stay cool, and didn't look as if he were going anywhere soon.

Back to check the north side of the cathedral, where the fledgling in the apse turret had disappeared. But on the far side of the nave from fledge 2, all the way on one of the high spires, was a fledgling.

Either the fledge in the turret had flown west, or this was the third young cathedral hawk.