6/7, Grant's Tomb

It's not 100% certain, but reports from other hawkwatchers early Wednesday suggest that all the baby hawks at the Grant's Tomb nest have fledged. They reported that the nest was empty in mid-morning and early afternoon, but none was actually able to find all three of the young birds. It's possible that the third fledgling merely made a short trip from the nest to a nearby treetop and then returned later.

Why "returned later"? Come early evening, two of the young hawks were on the nest platform. One plainly had a full crop, so it seems that they were there because that's where dinner was delivered.

Efforts to find the third young bird seemed to be in vain.

One of the pair in the nest was looking into nearby trees, but I didn't think to check if it was because the third was somewhere in that direction.

Finally some blue jays started aggressively calling out near the northwest corner of the tomb retaining wall, and sure enough, there was the third young hawk.

Its scrambling behavior in changing from branch to branch was much like that of fledge 2 in the trees by the playground on Tuesday. That it was the same bird seemed confirmed by the tuft of white fuzz still attached just above the top of its beak.

It tried another tree about 30 feet away.

But found the blue jays would follow. Also, that branch is at a sharp diagonal.

It tried changing position, slipped, fell, and started flying. Moments later it was 80 feet away in a tree near the lawn between the tomb and the playground.

Adult supervision was present pretty much the entire time.

6/6, Grant's Tomb

E-mail from a neighborhood hawkwatcher Tuesday afternoon reported that two of the Grant's Tomb red-tailed hawk babies were out of the nest, with one about 25 yards away high up a tree and the other 150 (!) yards away in a low tree near Claremont Playground.

Heading up that way, I initially had no luck spotting the roaming kids, but one adult was perched atop the International House keeping an eye on things. But a bit later, I discovered one of the fledglings was up there with mama, exploring the rooftop. The fledge soon decided to join mama on her perch atop a vent cover.

But the fledging's balance wasn't great, and after it flailed a bit and almost whacked mama in the head, Mrs. Grant decided that there's close and there's too close. She took off for the other end of the building.

The fledge made a move to follow, but only flew about 50 feet, landing on the metal walkway around the uppermost part of the International House, where it mostly disappeared from view

But what of the second fledgling? The report had been that it glided down to the lawn, then ran, skipped, and hop-flapped north to the chess tables, and finally made a short flight to the top of a scrubby tree by the playground. Initially he couldn't be found, but after a single blue jay made some noise, I circled around the tree and found the hawk fledging right where he was said to be.

Looking a bit nervous, both because of the blue jay but also because its perch wasn't the strongest.

Nevertheless, comfortable enough to do some preening.

And look around.

After twenty minutes it (he?) began to show some interest in relocating. Perhaps because there were now two blue jays mildly harassing him. But where to go?

Oh, no, you don't want to go west. That will make the blue jays angrier.

But west the fledgling went, making a very short flight to a tree across the path, where the blue jays were indeed angrier.

It moved about the branches, hop-flapping, branch-walking and climbing. Then decided, okay, maybe a different tree, but only one 15-20 feet away.

A nice solid branch to perch on, but the blue jays weren't going to let him stay.

So from there to another tree 15 feet away where the branches were closer together. Would they offer protection from the jays? No, not really.

Unfortunately, at that point, I had to go. Papa Grant made a quick flight through the area as I was leaving, so the red-tail parents were aware of where fledge two was at and were keeping an eye out.

As I made my exit, I found Mrs. Grant and fledge one perched alongside each other on the I House walkway railing.

6/5, Grant's Tomb

The young Grant's Tomb red-tailed hawks are easing their way into fledging. A neighborhood hawk watcher reported seeing one going for a test drive early Monday afternoon, making a short flight from the nest platform to a nearby tree. Perhaps 15-20 feet. But when mama arrived with food a few minutes later, the nascent fledgling went straight back to the nest to share in the spoils, and may have stayed there for the rest of the day.

Come Monday evening, papa apparently delivered food around 6:00. When I arrived a while later, the trio were either still pecking at the meal, or perched to the side digesting. It was looking like there wouldn't be much to watch, as they'd all be too stuffed to do anything. But eventually they did perk up. There was some wing flapping, and faces getting whacked when two would try it at the same time. Then one nestling moved upstairs to the platform railing; a second followed.

(Brief interlude for raucous screeching as one of the Riverside Church peregrines came buzzing by, with mama hawk flying in pursuit.)

And then, all three baby hawks were up on the railing. Although two seemed more active — the third displaying a very stuffed crop — all were moving about. There was lots of flapping, as well as numerous short "flights" of 5-6 feet as a young hawk would fly from one end of the platform to the other. In addition to the wing work, they were also practicing their landings on the railing. Despite all the action, no one made the extra leap into the trees, and finally it looked it was time to preen before bedtime.