6/18, Out in the Rain

Hawkwatching at the cathedral on Wednesday started close to 6:30 with Stella pointing out an adult red-tail perched on the roof of the old orphanage in the cathedral close. Although getting from Morningside Drive into the close takes a five-minute walk, I opted to check if the adult was watching over a fledgling. Apparently so. I barely got back there and realized the adult was gone when a fledgling fluttered onto a finial atop St. Jame's Chapel.

It perched for a couple minutes, possibly watching a parent in the trees to the west.

Checked out the local scenery, with St. Bartholomew looking on.

And then decided to switch finials. Perhaps it was curious about the peacock perched on the scaffolding about 50 feet away.

Perfect landing.

It didn't stay on the new spot long. There had been some fluttering up atop the statue of St. Thomas or of St. James the Great, presumably an adult headed the other way, and the fledgling first flew over to the scaffolding above St. Ambrose Chapel.

And then hopped around from pipe to pipe. Eventually it worked out a system for ascending the scaffolding.

And after 10 minutes had gotten even with the pedestal on which the statue of St. Thomas stands.

But then it tried to hop over onto the slim ledge atop the pedestal. Ooops. Unable to find a grip, it fluttered and hovered in the air for a few seconds. Then it parachuted downward, out of sight.

I headed back around to Morningside Drive, passing through the cathedral on the way in order to get out of the rain which had started to fall. I found Bruce watching the chapel roofs, but with all the tree cover, he'd apparently missed the action a few minutes earlier. Another minute later, I spotted a fledgling on the walkway above St. Columba Chapel.

It only stayed in that spot another minute or two. Then despite the rain, it flew out on the roof of Columba Chapel and perched on the little angel statue. And as the rain began to fall harder it stayed there, and stayed a little longer.

Just past 7:30, the rain began to let up and the cloud cover began to break up. The fledge was still on the little angel.

And now, with the rain almost stopped, it finally decided to move. A hop, skip, and a jump and it was into the treetops over Morningside Drive. It took until 8:00 before Bruce spotted the fledgling still perched at the very top of a tree near Columba Chapel. In the interim, Lincoln had pointed out an adult red-tail perched on the hospital roof, and we had watched a kestrel taking dives at it. There was also intermittent fledgling begging which led us to believe that the other fledge was close by, perhaps on a chapel roof.

Cathedral Nest Area Landmarks

When trailing red-tail fledglings around the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, it helps to know what the landmarks are. Here's a map for reference — click on the map to see the larger version.

Ed. note: This map was created in 2008 and does not reflect all the changes in 2014-2015. The nest moved in 2015 to above the statue of St. Peter, and the parking lot areas are now two ugly apartment buildings.

To see a much bigger, and more readable, version, click here.

6/17, Everyone Accounted For

There was a veritable flock of hawkwatchers at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine on Tuesday evening. I counted nine people at one time or another with camera and/or binocs. Those who were there late got to see the entire red-tail family.

Donna, Sam and Adam were there in late afternoon and reported seeing one fledgling being coaxed over to the hospital roof for a meal. But they hadn't seen the other and were a little concerned.

When I arrived just before 6:00 and met up with Stella and Lincoln, just one adult was visible on a chimney of the Cathedral School. It looked like Isolde and she took off almost as soon as she was pointed out to me.

After that, no more hawk sightings for about 45 minutes. There was a suspicious burst of sparrow twittering around the chapel roofs, but no visible sign of a hawk.

After making a circuit of the cathedral to check in the close (no one here but us peacocks)...

I spotted an adult hawk atop the Towers on the Park. Whoever it was took to the air a minute later. It initially seemed it was headed toward the hospital, but it circled around and then headed east, disappearing in the area of the Wadleigh School.

Back up on Morningside Drive below the nest, I found Stella, Lincoln and Winkie gazing up at the scaffolding. They had both fledglings in view.

One, presumably the youngest, was on the temporary walkway connecting the chapel roofs. When I got there it started moving around on the walkway, then fluttering about on the sill below the stained glass windows above St. Columba Chapel.

And up on the crenellated turret above the family nest was presumably the older fledgling, watching its sibling's antics below.

It may have been 15 minutes before the lower fledgling settled down, perched on the scaffolding below the nest.

Now and again, it eyed the hawkarazzi along the sidewalk.

There was a fair amount of intermittent begging calls, first from the fledgling up top. But eventually both were in on the action. Around 7:30 one hawkwatcher noticed that an adult hawk had recently landed on the hospital chimney. But it was sitting with its back to the kids, so apparently it wasn't a meal delivery.

The fledgling on the statue turret shuffled around to where it could get a better look at the parent, and begged for food or attention.

At 7:50 there was some action. An adult hawk flew into the nest, then the other.

I think that's Isolde at left and Norman at right. Then Isolde took off...

Followed 20 seconds later by Norman. But Norman didn't go far, just over to the hospital chimney.

Down below the younger fledgling started shifting around from scaffolding pipe to pipe. Then a few minutes later, both parents were in the air. One passed overhead and then turned, disappearing around the cathedral apse and into the close. The other almost did likewise, but no, it flew to the crenellated turret above the statue of St. James the Great, between St. Savior Chapel and St. Martin Chapel. (That's about 60 feet and two statues clockwise of where the older fledgling was perched.)

Hmmm, the eyes suggest that that is Norman.

Yep, those are Norman's eyes.

The upper fledgling made an effort to go visit papa, hopscotching along the scaffolding to the turret above the statue of St. Peter, halfway between St. Andrew and St. James. But having got there, it turned around and headed back to St. Andrew.

Meanwhile, down below, the other fledgling had returned to the same pipe 30-40 feet below the nest where it had been 15 minutes earlier.

Finally I had to exit. Three hawkwatchers -- Lincoln, WInkie and Susan -- remained just in case something interesting happened in the last 20-40 minutes before sundown.