Friday evening at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine revealed only one of this year's red-tailed hawk fledglings. He was perched on a corner spire of St. Ansgar chapel, guarding the parking lot.
He looked fed and satisfied, and spent the entire time I was in the area either preening or casually looking around.
A few glimpses across the street at the hospital roof, but if there was another fledge lurking up there, it wasn't visible to us groundlings.
Not only was finding a young red-tail fairly easy on Thursday evening, but all three of the cathedral fledglings were present and accounted for. It was the first time in close to a month I'd been able to account for all of the trio.
The first fledge was first seen on the roof of the cathedra's unfinished north transept. I wondered if he had just finished eating as the first glimpse or two suggested some feathers in the air.
But quickly enough his interest seemed to be on finding a higher spot to perch.
To think is to act. A few moments later he was on a stone rail halfway up the nave.
He only stayed there for a couple minutes. First he took off to the east, and perched atop the cathedral's St. Ansgar's chapel for a minute, but then turned around and tried again for a high spot on the nave. Couldn't make it and reversed direction and flew across the street to land on the roof of the hospital.
Hold it. So there's one young hawk on the hospital roof, but who's that looking over my shoulder.
A second fledgling perched on the roof of St. Boniface chapel.
While I was maneuvering to make sure that there were indeed two fledges in view, the first flew back across the street and landed next to its sibling.
First fledge on the left and second on the right.
But wait, there's more. The third of this year's cathedral hawk clutch was 'upstairs' in a turret watching its two sibs.
A few minutes later, the higher fledge flew over to the roof of the hospital, perching on a roof between pavilions until quietly disappearing from view some 5-10 minutes later while I kept an eye on the two lower fledges.
The two lower hawks seemed content where they were, apparently fed and just chilling out for the evening.
There was some preening and scratching.
Watching the ground below.
Watching the skies above.
And finally after 20-25 minutes a shift of position.
As 8:00 approached, the two fledges in view perked up. First they did a little exploration of the chapel roof. Perhaps there were some food morsels tucked away in a gutter.
But then one took off west, heading for a perch overlooking the nave, and a few minutes later the other followed. For a few minutes one perched on a finial overlooking Amsterdam Ave. but soon crossed 113th St. As sunset approached, two of the fledges were lurking about hospital roof some 11-12 stories above the emergency room entrance.
The robins were no help finding any of the cathedral red-tail fledglings on Tuesday evening. Instead, after over an hour of hunting around the cathedral grounds and Morningside Park, it was the cries of a fledgling that finally revealed one of the three young birds.
At first sight, he was perched atop one of the statue turrets above St. Martin chapel.
But then he dove down toward the roof of the Cathedral School. Ah-ha, Papa Norman was there and the fledge was hoping for a meal delivery.
Alas, Norman took off 15 seconds later, leaving the young hawk to cry and beg and otherwise make a lot of noise for no payout. At times, the sounds seemed to be in stereo, making me wonder if another fledgling was perched somewhere close by, but if so, I couldn't spot it.
The fledge in sight maneuvered around the school roof, one end to the other and in between and perching at multiple spots, and making one short visit across the street to a treetop in the park. The robins in the park chased him back.
Still, the crying continued.
After it seemed he had finally settled down, perching on a chimney, I made my exit.
