It was another hot and hazy day today but we had our first Washington Square Park fledging. It happened this morning at 10:34AM.
One of the eyasses was hopping about (the one on the left in the photo below):
Without warning the middle eyass jumped off the ledge, flew over the trees right outside the nest, soared in a semicircle, then landed on a window ledge a few windows east of the nest’s window.
Rosie was watching the babe in the new location from the flag pole closest to the nest:
She disappeared after several minutes.
She flew into the park trees an hour and ten minutes after I took the flag pole photo above:
She was facing the direction of the nest and fledgling’s ledge.
She flew toward the direction of the nest but we didn’t find where she went.
She visited the fledgling on its new ledge nearly two hours after it fledged:
She stayed with it for a minute.
The fledgling cried out a few times but generally seemed to have a good time running and flapping back and forth on the ledge. It jumped at the glass a few times though. I’m not sure what that was about.
The fledgling then flew off its ledge at 4:35PM, six hours after landing there.
I was hoping it would fly to the trees or one of the buildings lining the street at the eastern side of the park (the direction it was heading) but it flew over the trees and descended low to the ground:
It couldn’t grip onto a vehicle parked outside 31 Washington Place and slid off:
I ran over to the fledgling and began directing traffic to go past it.
Thankfully that street is very quiet so cars passed infrequently.
More Hawk-watchers and onlookers approached the scene.
The fledgling walked between the parked vehicles and onto the sidewalk:
Because there were lots of curious passersby, a bunch of us Hawk-watchers asked folks to give the fledgling some space so it could fly away. People were generally excited to see the Hawk and tried to crowd around it with their small cameras or iPhones but we convinced them to keep some distance.
The fledgling successfully flew onto one of the vehicles:
It tried to fly up to the roof of the vehicle but couldn’t grasp anything so it slid down, clutching the windshield wiper:
It was panting from the heat and stress no doubt.
After a couple of tries it eventually made it onto the vehicle’s roof:
The fledgling flew across the street and to some scaffolding trusses:
Because we were so concerned for the fledgling’s safety, a fellow Hawk-watcher called a good friend and Park Ranger to come over to assist in case the fledgling needed help. I didn’t think to ask him if it’d be ok to mention him by name in my post so I’ll respect his privacy and not mention it. He arrived within half an hour.
Because the fledgling did not seem hurt, it was decided we should all wait and see what happened next and to just stay close at hand.
It flew onto a parked UPS truck before flying to a building on the south side of Washington Place:
Rosie flew to a neighboring building’s rooftop with food seven minutes later:
But I don’t know if she saw the fledgling or if it was aware of her presence.
Rosie flew with the food to the nest:
Who I think was Rosie landed on the same building again three minutes later:
She disappeared though.
The fledgling moved about on some of its building’s window sills. At one point it landed behind the purple scaffolding boards, out of sight.
The fledgling then flew across the street and to another window sill:
It kept jumping toward certain windows:
The fledgling seemed unhurt and even preened and relaxed at times.
It walked along its new building’s cornice:
It turned the building’s corner, turning onto Greene Street:
It continued to try to jump at windows. Thankfully they were all closed.
It found some new perches to hop on and off of:
It then flew across Greene and to a new window ledge:
It didn’t stay on its new window for long.
It flew across Greene again:
It then settled down on a window ledge to roost:
It was after 8:00PM at this point and getting dark.
A fellow Hawk-watcher saw one of the parents on a ledge near the corner of Greene and Washington Place (the corner south from the fledgling):
The Hawk flew off after only a minute but we don’t know how long it had been sitting there.
Our hope was that the parent knew generally where the fledgling was. A man who stopped to watch the fledgling with us told me a few minutes later that he saw one of the Hawks soaring in a tight circle above the fledgling’s building. I can’t verify his sighting but if it were Bobby or Rosie, they could very well know where the fledgling is.
In either case, the fledgling will no doubt cry loudly for food and security from its parents in the morning. Hopefully Rosie or Bobby will find the little one right away and lead it to higher ground and eventually to the park. It was my longest Hawking day ever (11 1/2 hours!) and one of the most intense and stressful ones at that. Since it is late as I type this I will try to get a lot of much-needed sleep before heading over to check on the family.