6/16, Perching on the Scaffolding

Today was the first full day that the red-tail fledglings at the cathedral spent out of their nest. But how easy would it be to find them?

I made two visits to the nest area. The first for a half hour between 2:00 and 2:30 started off inauspiciously. First hawk sighting was of an adult flying south, apparently headed toward the Douglass Houses down around 104th St. After checking the Morningside Park rockface area to see if the one fledgling was still in that area, I was back up at the corner of 113th St. as 2:20 approached. Suddenly the characteristic begging noise of a baby red-tail broke out near the cathedral chapels. I soon found a fledgling perched on the scaffolding about 10 feet about Saint Boniface Chapel (i.e., just below the nest).

But as the begging calls went on and on, the fledge in view didn't seem to be the one making all the noise. Yes, it did seeem to be doing some begging...

But not the persistent begging. Eventually I decided that the other fledgling must be close to it, most likely on the roof of Saint Ansgar Chapel. That roof is normally obscured by a stone railing, but this year scaffolding and netting make it all but impossible to see what or who might be up there.

In the midst of all this, there was another sighting of one of the red-tail parents, seemingly bursting out of the cathedral close and heading east over Morningside Park.

At 6:20, the second visit quickly revealed a fledgling perched in the same section of scaffolding as in the earlier sighting. But this time it was higher up, about even with the feet of the statue of St. Andrew, and so only 15-20 feet from the nest. Except for some some preening and looking around, it was sitting quietly.

Lincoln and Winkie were also there, and we all looked in various directions for the other fledgling. No luck over the next half hour, and no help from the robins, catbirds, et al.

At 7:00, bad weather rolled in. As the rain began to fall, the one fledgling could be seen shifting around on its scaffolding pipe, looking for a spot where it was little less exposed.

6/15, A Double Fledge Sunday

Based on a 45-day count from first sight of a feeding, I had figured that the first red-tailed hawk baby at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine might leave the nest this coming Tuesday, June 17. However, their wing exercises up in the nest didn't seem quite as vigorous as did those of their elder half-siblings of 2006 and 2007, so I wouldn't have been surprised if the first fledge occurred later in the week.

Instead, they both made the big jump today.

After skating in Central Park, I had gone home to clean up before going to Sunday dinner, and found e-mail that weekend hawkwatcher Stella had watched a nestling leap from St. Andrew's head at a quarter to five. I reached the scene at a quarter to seven and found Stella, Lincoln and another hawkwatcher looking up high in a tree near the corner of Morningside Drive and 113th St. Indeed, there's a feathery hind-end visible on a branch up there.

But wait. Stella is saying that the other nestling left the nest an hour after the first. She shows me where it's hiding in Morningside Park, a fair distance from its sibling. It's on an eye-level branch in a tree at the top of the rockface.

Robins and other small birds in the surrounding trees are all going nuts about the new fledgling's presence. Perhaps all that noise is intimidating, or perhaps the hawkling is still assessing what it just did an hour ago. It's very quiet.

And notice that there's still a fair amount of down on its head rather than feathers. Maybe it did fledge "early".

Drat. It's almost 7:00 and I have to run to dinner.

Monday, the game of hide-and-seek with wandering fledglings begins.

6/13, A Better Vantage Point

Friday evening I took my time getting to the Cathedral red-tail nest area. Arriving at 7:15, I found the nestling standing on guard on opposite sides of the nest. A minute later, Dottie and Captain walked up, and as we were talking, the nestling that was on the south side of the nest climbed up on St. ANdrew's head.

That's the first time I've seen that this nesting season, although a couple other occasional hawkwatchers had said they'd seen one nestling do so a few days earlier. A good sign that fledging time is approaching.

That nestling remained atop St. Andrew for at least the next 25 minutes. However, it spent most of the time perched with its back to the street. Meanwhile, the other nestling switched from side to side of the nest.

Some wing stretching on the north side.

Then run over to the south side.

Big stretch.

Run back to the north side.

Check the skies on the south side.

It finally settled down, leaving its sibling in the high guard post.