5/19-5/21, Wet Days and Fair

A three-day report...

Saturday

6:05 p.m. - Isolde is sitting up in the nest and looking around when I first arrive at the Cathedral hawk nest area.

6:10 - After checking the nest from a couple other angles to see if one of the kids might be visible, I head out. The rain is getting steadier.

Sunday

Today's rain is over and blue sky is threatening to break out.

6:25 p.m. - Isolde is sitting in pretty much the same place and posture as she was yesterday. The only difference is that it looks like someone has added an extra twig or two on the north side of the nest.

6:36 - One of the kids is moving about, getting in front of Isolde so that I can see dark feathers growing on a wing. But no little head popping up.

6:38 - The nestling has settled down.

6:42 - Isolde has turned around. Doesn't look like a feeding as she's too deep in the nest. Perhaps it's some housecleaning.

6:43 - Now she's looking out again, sitting high like she's watching something.

6:44 - Is she gnawing on one of the new sticks?

6:45 - She's turned around agin, but standing on the edge of the nest. Looks like a feeding about to start.

6:46 - Excellent idea. Time for me to go to family dinner, too.

Monday

Weather's a heck of a lot nicer today.

5:31 p.m. - From across the street from St. Luke's emergency entrance, Tristan can be seen a block away perched on the family's favorite decorative urn on the hospital roof.

5:32 - Nest looks quiet.

5:42 - Tristan still on the urn, preening and observing.

Whoa, hawk in the nest. No, Tristan didn't fly across the street while I looked the other way. Looks like Isolde has quietly flown in.

5:44 - Looks like a feeding has started.

5:46 - One nestling is very visible in the rear righter corner of the nest.

5:47 - Junior on the right is hungry, and aggressively feeding. Looks like he's now capable of pulling his own bites off dinner if mama will hold it down while he tugs.

5:49 - Junior on the left can just barely be seen between Isolde's legs. She's still feeding him beak-to-beak.

And junior at right is gobbling down larger morsels.

6:00 - Last sign of feeding activity.

6:02 - Isolde's just standing on the edge of the nest looking around. Is she going to fly off on a constitutional soon?

6:06 - Isolde still at the nest. Tristan still across the street at St. Luke's.

Bruce Yolton arrives to take pix too.

6:20 - Been pretty quiet for the last 15 minutes. Isolde's just perched on the edge of the nest, watching the kids sleep (presumably).

6:22 - Tristan disappears from the hospital roof.

6:24 - Tristan re-appears, perched on Gabriel's horn.

6:33 - Isolde still perched on the edge of the nest watching the world go by (esp. the fire truck which has gone by three times since I got here). Occasionally she's bent over as if she was taking a bite of her own from whatever was served for dinner.

6:46 - Isolde bent over the nest. Looks like another feeding has started.

6:55 - Still feeding. Junior at left seems to have been getting a little more attention this time.

And in a flash Isolde turns around and jumps off the nest. Almost like she just dropped into the treetops over Morningside Drive, but presumably she sliced right and toward 110th St.

7:05 - After walking down Morningside Drive a block and coming back, no sign of Isolde perched on any of the usual places (finials, rooftop railings, antennas, chimneys, etc.)

7:10 - Tristan still on Gabriel's horn. Apparently he's pulled guard duty for the time being.

7:11 - Time for me to exit. Perhaps Bruce will catch some activity later.

5/18, Quiet Friday

I'm skipping a report of last Monday, and I wasn't able to spend any time at the Cathedral the next three days.

Friday

At 5:06 p.m., all was quiet about the Cathedral red-tailed hawk nest. A couple minutes later Mama Isolde was found perched one of the antennae at 301 West 110th St., watching the nest from afar. No sign of Papa Tristan anywhere.

Just before 6:00, the nestlings apparently woke up from a nap. One of them was more visible than the other, climbing higher in the nest and also just getting in front of the second. But both were visible for a minute or two.

They wiggled about for 10-12 minutes, sometimes disappearing from view and doing no flapping. Around 6:10 they settled back down.

Exit at 6:23. Nestlings quiet, Isolde still perched at #301, and no Tristan.

5/12-5/12, Quiet Saturday and Short Sunday

(Yes, I'm way behind.)

Saturday, May 12

Visiting the Cathedral of St. John in early evening. Other hawkwatchers have been and gone.

5:55 p.m. - Isolde is at the nest, apparently in the middle of feeding the nestlings. Unlike Thursday, no fuzzy white heads are visible through the twigs, as their a fresh sprig of greenery along the top of the nest which hides them.

6:07 - Isolde finishes the feeding and promptly exits the nest, flying across the street to perch on her chimney at St. Luke's.

6:15 - Step into the park and check the rest of the hospital roofline. No sign of Tristan up there too.

6:22 - Down by the Morningside Park pond, looking up at the nest. Looks like nothing's happening.

6:58 - Been hanging about the nest corner for almost 30 minutes now. Yawn. Oh, hey. The greenery in the nest is rustling around. The kids are getting restless.

7:00 - Darn. Quieted down again.

7:02 - Isolde has just disappeared. No idea where she went. It's been an hour; time to leave.

7:03 - One last look at the nest; Tristan has arrived...

... and is checking out the joint.

7:11 - Tristan's been at the nest for a while, but only now seems to be paying much attention to nestlings. Maybe a feeding.

7:13 - Apparently not. Tristan is back to looking around the neighborhood.

7:33 - Twenty minutes later and Tristan is still just hanging about on the edge of the nest watching the world go by. No sign of Isolde, although one has to imagine she's somewhere near-by.

7:34 - Exit.

Sunday, May 13

5:55 p.m. - Arrive at the 113th St. side of the nest. No obvious sign of activity, but there's a shadow that suggests an adult is sitting on the other side.

5:57 - Over near the 112th St. overlook as I'm getting my camera out, a hawk soars out of the nest and heads southeast. Last seen near the corner of 110th and Manhattan Ave. trying to gain some altitude.

5:59 - Ah-ha. Isolde is now perched on an antenna atop the tower at 301 West 110th St.

6:05 - All quiet at the nest.

6:07 - Bruce Yolton arrives and points that Tristan is perched on the crenelation above the statue one clockwise of St. Andrew, perhaps 25 feet from the nest.

6:18 - Tristan looks pretty relaxed. One foot up, etc.

6:28 - Isolde is missing from the apartment tower, although she was there a minute or two ago.

6:30 - Isolde is found perched on her chimney.

6:41 - All the hawks still in their respective positions and I have to leave.

Much, much later, Donna Browne finally gets a glimpse of nestlings, including one flapping its wings as it crawls about the nest.