The single baby hawk in the nest at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine is roughly four weeks old, so now has dark brown feathers covering his back and upper side of his wings. His head, though, is still fuzzy white and his breath is only just turning tawny.
Being a solo baby, he can sometimes be a little hard to find because he doesn't have to jostle with sibs for space and do a lot of excuse-me wing flapping. His preferred spot for perching seems to be toward the back of the nest, where he can't be seen from directly below the nest.
Friday and Saturday I had quick glimpses of the nestling. Early Friday evening he was peeking between the crenellations when I arrived.
But soon settled out of sight.
Mama Madeleine was also about, perched up atop the cathedral on Gabriel's horn, keeping an eye on things. I've seen her up there several times in the past two weeks, occasionally taking grief from the neighborhood kestrels.
Late Saturday afternoon I apparently arrived just about the time a feeding was ending. From the look of it, the hawk nestling might now be old enough to pull bits off of food off the meal himself.
Madeleine departed a minute later, heading north as she seems to do these days. The nestling poked around for another few minutes, providing a glimpse of growing feathers.
But then settled down at the back of the nest.
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