Young hawks are having an ongoing play date in Tompkins Square Park

As noted the other day, Amelia and Christo's three 2023 red-tailed hawk offspring have fledged and been active in Tompkins Square Park this past week.

Here's a sampling of some up close-and-personal moments (top two photos by Derek Berg)...

And the following two photos are by Steven...

... and you may get busted taking photos, FYI ...

EVG reader Nancy Van Epps shared this rather camouflaged view of a fledgling...

Goggla, who has documented the red-tailed hawks here for years, offered up some sensible advice about this playful period (via the EVG comments):

As the fledglings are out and about now, this is a good time to remind everyone to take care when watching them — give them a lot of space as they learn to fly and hunt. If they are on the ground, please keep dogs away and let them do their thing. It's normal for them to be on the ground eating or playing. If you have reason to believe they are in distress, call 311 and ask for the Urban Park Rangers.

Find Goggla's photos here.

And for equal time to other TSP-based birds, a pigeon (and a pretty cool hat) for your consideration by Daniel Efram...

Tuesday's parting shot

Photo by Mark H. 

There is A LOT of juvenile red-tailed hawk activity now in Tompkins Square Park in recent days... as Amelia and Christo's three 2023 offspring have fledged and are testing their wings and practicing their staredowns. 

Many more photos TK in the days ahead.

Health scare for remaining red-tailed fledgling in Tompkins Square Park

[The fledgling with its eyes closed on Friday via Steven]

We've already lost one fledgling (due to rodenticide) this summer in Tompkins Square Park ... and back on Friday and Saturday, things weren't looking good for his sibling.

Goggla was on the scene for a good portion of the weekend, even helping Ranger Rob try to capture the fledgling for evaluation.

Here's part of Goggla's report from yesterday:

The fledgling spent all of Saturday perched high in the trees, remaining very still with his eyes closed and his head often dropped forward. I really didn't think he'd make it through the day and prepared for the worst.

Then, around 7 p.m., he opened his eyes and looked alert. He flew to a bench where he looked unsteady, but still managed to catch a rat. After eating, he flew to a low branch hanging over the main lawn and stayed there until dark.

But by Sunday morning...

I returned ... and was relieved and elated to see the entire hawk family — fledgling, Christo and Amelia — flying around the park. They all perched together in their favorite locust tree on the east side of the park and the fledgling loudly harassed his parents for food for several hours.

Find more about this health scare here.


[Fledgling photo by Steven]

-----

This fledgling has proven to be quite precocious this summer. I was going to post this early last week...


[Photo by Goggla]

Goggla has an excellent update on the fledgling in Tompkins Square Park, who is enjoying exploring every nook and crazy of his surroundings... learning the trade from his parents Amelia and Christo...



Read all about it here.

Meanwhile, in other red-tailed hawk activity... Zak Wojnar shared these photos on Aug. 16 from Essex and Canal, across from Seward Park ... showing a juvenile red-tailed hawk dining on a pigeon on a fire escape ...







Previously on EV Grieve:
The red-tailed fledgling is having the most fun in Tompkins Square Park

The red-tailed fledgling is having the most fun in Tompkins Square Park

The remaining red-tailed hawk fledgling continued to entertain Tompkins Square Parkgoers this past week... Steven shared these photos of Amelia and Christo's offspring at play the other day ... practicing his take offs and (crash) landings...





... and playing with a favorite toy — a piece of wood ...







... and Derek Berg caught the young hawk in flight...



Goggla has been documenting the fledgling here and here. She believes he hatched on or around June 1.

As she notes, "This fun time with the young hawk won't last long. As soon as he's able to fly and feed himself, he will venture off on his own to explore the world, so let's enjoy and admire him while we can."