‘Cause I’m as free as a bird now,
And this bird you cannot change.
– Lynyrd Skynyrd
#freebird #tbt
Tag: urban raptor
Elemen-tree, my dear Watson
Since the young hawks have fledged, we’ve seen them hanging out on rooftops, fire escapes, and other structures around the church, usually at dawn and dusk. But there are days when the cross is empty and we don’t see any young hawk activity all day long…so a mystery presented itself: Where are they going?
“How often have I said that when you have excluded the impossible whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” – Sherlock Holmes (The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle)
After we ruled out the possibility that they were summering in the Hamptons with Leonardo DiCaprio or flying by Pluto with New Horizons, we started to hunt for clues that might help us.
The first real clue came at dawn one morning when we saw one of the birds fly towards a grove of trees near the church.
The hawk didn’t emerge so we began a long, pain-staking camera pan of the trees nearby. After almost giving up, like a 49er in the Truckee river, we struck gold! See if you can find the barred tail…
So…we knew at least one hawk was perched in a tree. Then, later that afternoon, the hawks were flying/crying around hoping for a feeding. One of them flew right into the trees…
…then flew right back out!
Aha! So we now we knew we should check that area more thoroughly. No luck for the first hour or so, until we happened upon the second fledgling perched in a low branch!
It seemed quite comfortable in the tree, conducting its own detective work on a tiny leaf.
A group of pigeons sat just under the tree totally unfazed…a hint that the young hawks still aren’t hunting yet. The fledgling took off soon after.
We found nothing the next day. And we searched a lot.
‘Come, Watson, come!’ he cried. ‘The game is afoot. Not a word! Into your clothes and come!’ – Sherlock Holmes (from The Adventure of the The Abbey Grange)
Not to be deterred, we continued the search the next day. And, this time, the good old-fashioned footwork paid off. We spotted another fledgling!
It was quietly perched in a tree…investigating the intricacies of a branch.
The young hawk sat there for at least an hour, totally unnoticed by humans and animals alike.
And finally, just yesterday morning in a different area on 3rd Street, we could hear the loud cries of a hungry young hawk. Sure enough, there we found one.
It cried and cried nonstop, attracting a small group of human observers. It moved in the tree a bit.
Mom was on the church with food and Dad arrived and started calling, perhaps hoping to lure the young hawk closer with some food.
The fledgling flew to a fire escape closer to the church and began a back and forth calling session with Christo that lasted a good 30 minutes.
The young hawk argued and argued…
…but Dad won out in the end. The young hawk flew to a nearby rooftop to await a feeding.
And so the search continues…but we are reasonably sure that if the hawks don’t make it to Tompkins Square Park, they’ll start practice-hunting a bit closer to home.
“Education never ends, Watson. It is a series of lessons with the greatest for the last.” – Sherlock Holmes (The Red Circle by Arthur Conan Doyle)
A Feel-Good Friday in New York City
You could tell there was something special in the air this morning when even the ConEd plant looked beautiful.
Birds of a different feather circled above…
…and Christo was perched on the church, ready to begin another day.
He let out a rousing call as he took off from the church, effortlessly gliding around the neighborhood.
Then, as has become routine over the last week, from every direction, the young hawks flew in…
…circling above the rooftops of 3rd St. and Ave A…
…flying beautifully, higher and smoother than ever before.
They eventually landed near the church, calling back to their father that they were here and ready to eat.
As Dad went off to hunt, our hearts were warmed with the thought that all three young hawks are thriving. So far, they have overcome very tough odds (hawks have about a 20% chance of survival in their first year), but these young hawks are growing stronger every day.
A few hours later, just 2 miles down the isle of Manhattan as the crow flies, New York City celebrated another group that defeated all odds, and broke records! The “Canyon of Heroines” erupted with sheer joy honoring the amazing 2015 World Cup Champion US Women’s Soccer team (with an historic, first-ever NYC ticker-tape parade for a women’s team).
What a wonderful start to the weekend…
You’re brazen now, little Mockingbird. Better run for cover when that pup grows up!
A Hawk Masterpiece
We have been so happy to receive lots of photos, videos, and questions from readers all around the neighborhood (and the world!). And then local businesses Downtown Yarns and Exit9 got into the hawk-spirit during #fledgewatch. But what we are about to show you is by far the BEST hawk-inspired work of art that we’ve received.
Alexi, a 5 year old recent Kindergarten graduate, lives very close to the hawks’ home base in the East Village. She has been able to watch them eat, fly, and explore their surroundings. The fledglings have even hung out on her family’s balcony!
Her whole family has been following their development. As Mom put it, “We are enjoying the experience of being near the Hawks.” We couldn’t say it better. But Alexi found a way to…she made a whole book!!
We urge you to go back and examine the detailed illustrations again, you’ll be delighted. Thank you so much, Alexi, for sharing your beautiful book with us. We look forward to keeping up with the hawks with you!
Just before Independence Day, a much smaller battle
At 5:30am this morning, we caught up with two of the fledglings sharing a special sibling moment: a battle over a rat.
Sibling 1: Gee that’s a nice rat. Looks like we could split it and each take half.
Sibling 2: Not gonna happen.
Dad: Keep it down, kids. I’m gonna go hunt for more. Don’t hurt each other while I’m gone.
Siblings 1&2: Mine! No it’s mine! <tug of war ensues>
Sibling 2: Ha! I win! Better luck next time, sucker!
Sibling 2: <moment of remorse, looks back> Maybe I should bring it back and share?
Sibling 2: Nah. <swallows rat whole>
Sibling 1: I’m telling! Daaaaaad….
Reunited and it…feels so good?
On Sunday evening, I asked Gog if she had seen the Wayward Fledgling and she told me that all three fledglings were in the vicinity of the church. What wonderful news! We’ve been wishing that the whole family would be reunited and it happened, at least for a little while! We managed to catch photos of all 3 fledglings within a 50-yard radius of each other…
We still want to see all 3 together in the same frame, so we’ll be on the lookout.
We have seen the fledglings start to expand further from their home base around the church, exploring around 3rd and 4th St. One even flew to 1st Avenue before we lost sight of it. If you see a fledgling anywhere, please let us know! We’re hoping the worst shenanigans are over, and that soon, we’ll see them learning to hunt on their own.
The Wayward Fledgling gets itself into another pickle
The Wayward Fledgling seemed to have a quiet couple of days since its relocation to the park. It was seen early in the morning yesterday, flying to a playground fence and resting high in a tree.
Hawk enthusiasts have been spending a lot of time trying to find it in the park to see what it’s up to. But It is incredibly difficult to find it as it camouflages well in the trees, even if you know exactly where to look.
The best indicator that the hawk might be around is either when you see a pack of Blue Jays or Robins mobbing it and screeching or when the young hawk is calling for its parents (which it tends to do when it wants food delivered). Even easier than Seamless!
But, not one to disappoint, the Wayward Fledgling is continuing to explore its new environment. And like Curious George in the Big City, it keeps getting into trouble.
At around 8:30am this morning, an observant couple saw the hawk try to hop between two buildings and fall. According to them, “the space is only around two feet wide and is sectioned off with chicken wire so it is a mystery how it managed to get down there.”
Here is the video they shot:
The wonderfully kind couple then called for help and who showed up? None other than Ranger Rob*.
Does that make him the Man in the Yellow Hat?
Rob was able to free the hawk and release it in the park. According to Rob, the hawk is in good health and is a lot feistier than before, which means it is gaining strength.
After spending some time in a few trees at Tompkins…
…the hawk bounced around on some rooftops. It ended up on the roof of, ironically, the Dora Park Apartments, where Dad was able to drop off some food. This was great news, again, because it means the hawk’s parents know where it is and are taking good care of it.
Thanks to the awesome couple who jumped into action and helped save the Wayward Fledgling from potential injury and starvation. And thanks to Ranger Rob for another fantastic rescue.
By the way, if this happens again, maybe we should give the hawk a tiny Tony Hawk helmet?
* I understand that Ranger Teddy was there helping with this rescue as well. A huge thank you to him too!!
The Other Two
We’ve spent so much time with the Wayward Fledgling that one might think we’ve forgotten the other two young hawks. In fact, we hadn’t really heard much from them for the past couple of days…until today. And actually we did hear them before we saw them.
We followed the sound onto a roof on Ave. A and came upon one hawk standing in a beautifully industrial setting.
We couldn’t have asked the hawk to pose better…
Kate Moss eat your heart out.
It seemed as though the hawk was alone there until we noticed another little head nearby. This hawk was a lot more hidden (much like Banksy).
A while later, we came back to check on the hawks and one already had some food, while the other had none.
Christo visited the nest to kill a rat he had hunted, presumably for the second hawk.
As he flew over to encourage the has-no-food-yet hawk to join him on the roof, the has-food-already hawk started squealing and crouching over its food to protect it. We believe the squeal roughly translates into: “There is no way in hell I’m sharing this so back off.”
Fortunately, there was enough to go around. Although, we have to say, this is quite a different culinary experience than just a month ago.
Soon after, the hawks settled in on the church roof for some time to rest and digest.
An update on the Wayward Fledgling: It was last seen in the park at 9am this morning. It was preening and moving from branch to branch. We know Christo went to hunt in the park in the early evening so we’re hopeful that things are going well.
The Wayward Fledgling
As promised, we wanted to tell you the story of the first fledgling (aka the wayward fledgling). This bird was the first to take flight but has had some difficulty since leaving the nest.
First, on Sunday evening, it suddenly attempted to return to the nest but missed, crash landing on the AC directly below.
It spent the evening on that AC, while Mom and the youngest slept on the nest just above.
The next day, it remained on the AC for most of the day, crying quite loudly. This was quite heart-wrenching, especially as the parents stayed away. Faith Zuckerman, the kind owner of this AC, took some shots of it from inside:
Faith said that, in addition to panting and crying, the hawk was knocking on the window. She had an expert come check on the hawk and was told it was physically ok. So all we could do was wait.
Finally, at 3:26pm EST, the hawk took flight. We call it Fledge 2.0.
The wayward fledge landed on the church steeple’s clock, placing itself at 5 o’clock. Onlookers said that the hawk actually moved the hour hand…who knew hawks also had the ability to manipulate time?!
The hawk was quite docile hanging out on the clock.
From here, things went haywire again. The bird was heard crying, then spotted, again on the 12th floor of Ageloff. Only this time, it was on a window ledge closer to 4th St.
The hawk was agitated and started clawing at the screen, while flapping its wings. This was one of the most perilous, nerve-wracking moments we’ve witnessed so far:
The wayward fledgling finally calmed down, slept for a bit, then took off some time during the night.
TwoHawksNYC 