Red-tailed Hawk landing on nest, Bobst Library, NYU, New York City

Fledgling’s second day of building exploration – June 1st, 2013

I approached Washington Square Park around 10:20 this morning. I set out to find the fledgling.

As I was walking toward the park on Washington Place (where the fledgling spent most of its off-ledge time yesterday), I glimpsed what looked like wing tips tucking into a high window ledge. I heard scratching sounds at the same time.

It turned out to be the fledgling situating itself on a ledge at the corner of Washington Place and Greene Street (the fledgling had roosted at Greene Street last night).

It flew across Greene Street and didn’t even come close to landing on a good perch at first:

It bounced off the wall and kept flying on Greene:

It landed near the corner of Greene and Waverly Place:

I informed a couple of fellow Hawk-watchers who were already in the park that I had found the fledgling so they came over, bringing a small band of familiar bird-watching and photographer faces with them. We were quite the bunch! Lots of people stopped to ask us what we were photographing.

We spotted Bobby and Rosie flying high overhead several times.

The fledgling saw one of its parents fly overhead and cried out:

The Hawks did not get close to the fledgling though but kept flying.

Many of us don’t believe the fledgling had eaten since yesterday morning but I’ve heard that fledglings can survive just fine without food the first couple/few days off the nest.

The fledgling left its Greene Street perch and crossed Waverly after thirty five minutes:

On its Waverly Place building:

Eyeing a parent or just looking up:

Cooling down:

The babe settled down for a long while so I went to the nest to check on how the other eyasses were doing.

One was doing a lot of jump-flapping:

At first I thought it might be preparing to leap off the ledge but it was just opening its wings a bit to cool down.

I went to the northeastern corner of the park to look at the fledgling on its building and to also scan the sky and familiar building perches for any sign of Bobby and Rosie.

Fledgling still at the window:

It flew to the adjacent building after about an hour and fifteen minutes after landing on its previous spot.

It tried to land on a window sill but it was too narrow:

I glanced up and noticed one of the parents sitting high above the fledgling. The spot is a regular perch for Bobby and Rosie (Bobby especially).

It was Rosie. She eventually found a good bar to sit on. Some of us were pretty sure she knew the fledgling was below her, which was great, but we were hoping she’d lead it to food or feed it but it was not to be.

The fledgling rose to the balcony railing after nearly an hour of resting at the bottom:

The fledgling then flew back and forth on the balcony railing a few times. It was getting better at negotiating the new terrain.

Flying across Waverly and to a higher perch:

Rosie surely would have seen the fledgling fly from the balcony and to its new perch since it did so right underneath her.

The fledgling would look up at Rosie and cry loudly.

Rosie left her perch after a while. The fledgling cried even louder upon seeing her.

Flying across Waverly again:

Flying across Waverly yet again:

Bobby and Rosie flew low together diagonally across the street from the fledgling, looking like they were hunting pigeons. The fledgling cried loudly upon seeing them but did not fly to join them or get closer to them.

Bobby:

After another while, a fellow Hawk-watcher spotted Rosie with a pigeon on a building diagonally across from the nest:

She flew toward the nest with it:

Fledgling on its Waverly Place building (NYU’s Silver Center), walking along the cornice to the corner:

It turned the corner and was then on the side facing the park:

It rounded the corner again and went back to the Waverly Place side of the building. It settled down again so Iwent to check on the nest and see if the parents were about.

Rosie was on the cross:

I was going to wait to see where she might fly to but I got the call that the fledgling had flown across the street and as far as One Fifth Avenue so I went to check it out.

It was seated on a window sill facing University Place (east-facing side of the building):

Rosie flew directly across it around ten minutes after it landed on One Fifth:

Rosie landed high above the fledgling (on the north-facing side) half an hour later:

Bobby flying far west (high above the area):

Rosie left her perch after twenty minutes and landed on One University Place again:

Bobby flew past the fledgling too:

The fledgling moving from one window to another diagonally across:

Bobby flying by again:

The fledgling had flown to a window out of sight from our vantage point so a few of us walked the block and a half to see it at its new location:

I stood by at this new spot for a half hour before leaving the area for home. I had put in another long day so I left after watching the fledgling preen.Although Bobby and Rosie didn’t seem to feed the fledgling yet, they seemed quite aware of where it was and was spending a decent amount of time flying and perching near it.


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