6/4, Fledge at St. John the Divine

There was good news and bad news from the hawk nest at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine today.

The bad news came at lunch time when it was reported that a sick or injured adult hawk was on the ground close to the cathedral. It was picked up by one of the rangers from the Parks Dept. and is now with the Horvaths at WINORR for care and rehab (if necessary). The word is that it is male, and so probably Norman. There was no injury to the bird, but he was thin and dehydrated, having obviously not eaten in a while. They are now waiting for test results to come in.

A few hours later when I was able to check the nest area, I found the nest looking suspiciously emptier. Just one nestling in sight at the time.

And hmmm, it was looking downward quite a bit. That would suggest...

One of the baby hawks had fledged from the nest and was perched quietly on the roof of St. Boniface chapel. The location was about 25-30 feet northeast of the nest, but 60-70 feet down.

It stayed in that spot for a half hour or so, during which time I kept looking around and peering at the nest, trying to figure out where the third baby hawk might be. Eventually I discovered it was also still in the nest.

Finally the new fledge perked up. Some hop-flapping ensuing. Time to explore, or time to discover that returning to the nest is not easy?

And then it surprised me by doing some real flying.

First back out to the end of the roof of Boniface chapel.

And then, wow, 75 feet over to the roof of St. Savior chapel, where it perched close at the base of the small cross.

One wondered if it was trying to check what all that screaming was in that direction, and finding that a very large blue bird was making the noise.

Unfortunately, the spot atop St. Savior also brought the fledgling close to blue jay territory, and a campaign of aerial harassment began. The fledge took a dozen brush backs.

And then it was time to move somewhere with a little more protection from the bullies. The fledge hop-flapped close to the apse wall, where it disappeared from view. Based on the behavior of the jays, it apparently stayed close to that spot until sunset.