On a gray Sunday afternoon, Madeleine the cathedral red-tailed hawk was again visible in her nest, watching the neighborhood, preening, and finally, feeding what seems to be more than one small nestling.
At 4:30, she was perched with her back to the nest contents, looking out over Morningside Park.
Not long later she turned around to give a little attention to the nest interior.
But although she fussed briefly inside the nest, she spent most of the next 20-25 minutes preening. Sometimes she looked back over a shoulder.
Meanwhile I cast about to see if there were any other spots along Morningside Drive where there might be a good vantage.
Round about 5:00 I found an okay spot right at the intersection of 113th St. that I had previously missed.
From that spot it seemed that I could see Madeleine checking at least two spots in the nest, suggesting two or three babies up there.
Moments later, Madeleine was bent over the nest and for the next 15 minutes, all I saw of her was a feathery posterior. The 5:00 feeding was in progress.
Addendum: The Urban Hawks blog has video of the feeding.
Good news!
ReplyDeleteTouch wood.
ReplyDeleteWe must have been watching from different angles at the same time. I would say at least two eyasses. One gave a nice slice from the middle of the nest.
ReplyDeleteI was watching from about 4:30 to 5:15 Sunday. Most of the time along MSD close to the nest.
ReplyDelete