At 7:30pm EST: The wayward fledgling (oldest sibling) left the AC below the nest, landed on a clock on the church’s side, and was then stranded on a windowsill, crying.
9pm EST: Mom flies in to hang out with the youngest, still on the nest. The wayward fledgling is still on the windowsill, but no longer crying. It had some wild run-ins with the window screen. More on that to come.
The other fledgling (middle sibling) is flying very well. It was spotted atop various buildings, soaring high in the sky, and even did a Top Gun-style flyby right over the nest this afternoon.
3:30pm EST: Dad (finally) drops off food for youngest but doesn’t give any to the fledgling below. After crying all day, the eldest gets jealous and takes flight!! Video coming soon.
Thanks to Faith Zuckerman for her vigilance. That fledgling chose a great place to lose its nerve for a bit. But now it’s flying again! #fledgewatch
1pm EST: Two birds, two ACs. Lots of crying. Parents are soaring around but haven’t brought any food yet.
It looks like the younger hawk (who hasn’t yet fledged) wants to get down to the oldest (who seems unwilling to fly for now). The oldest has been crying on and off for a few hours now.
Saturday was an exciting affair as the first two birds fledged from the nest, leaving only one (we believe to be the youngest) behind. But the young hawk stayed quite busy on the longest day of the year. Here’s how the day unfolded..
After a night all alone on the AC, the hawk awoke to some morning rain.
After a snack drop-off from Dad (working hard on Father’s Day!), it posed for the camera for a bit…
And, even though it was hot at times and Mom never came to shield it from the sun (she spent about 7 hours on the cross of the church yesterday), it continued it’s pre-fledge flight practice…
…and it’s now typical “should I jump now?” pre-fledge positions.
Plus a couple of naps in locations purposely selected to scare any onlooker:
The rain stopped, Mom flew away and it seemed like the evening was winding down. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the very first fledgling (we believe is the oldest), flew in with sticks in her talons and crash landed on the AC below the nest AC!
Thankfully, although it presumably missed its intended destination by one floor, it chose an AC owned by a very kind Ageloff resident who turned off the lights so the bird would be comfortable. And it was.
Eventually Mom came back to spend time with the youngest on the nest, and that is how the day closed.
The third hawk (second fledgling) visited one of the south pillars on Ageloff this morning. More on that later.
The first (and we believe oldest) hawk fledged at 10:10am. Onlookers saw the bird fly northeast of Ageloff but no one knew where it was. Just afterwards, Christo flew to a building just north of Ageloff and keered loudly for a while.
A nearby roofer came to report that he saw the bird crash into a wall (!!!) on the roof he was working on. But the bird seemed ok.
The next sighting of the bird came from a diligent couple (sorry, didn’t catch your names but your gym plans were ruined!) who spotted it on a building on 5th St., just above Sophie’s bar.
It’s a decent spot as there is plenty of room to move around and a quiet, one-way street below.
The second bird (who we believe is the middle bird) fledged at 2:45pm. It was a much stronger initial flight and the bird landed safely on a narrow ledge on the 3rd St. side of the church. Christo spent some time perched just above keeping an eye. Then, the bird moved to the school on 3rd St. where it perched on some scaffolding.
Apparently, it wasn’t the best choice as a gang of Robins were not so pleased and proceeded to squeak and dive at the young hawk (they probably have a nest nearby). As one of the onlookers said, “Some intro to the real world!”
And the the third? It most likely hatched a little after the other two so it makes sense that it hasn’t fledged yet. But this is how it feels about being left alone (or perhaps it’s just excited that Dad brought some food):
It’s lonely but at least there is lots of room to practice…
Mom stopped by for a short visit too.
More to come as we track these hawks’ progress. Be sure to check out Gog in NYC who will post more photos soon.
TwoHawksNYC 