When a young red-tailed hawk gets stuck in the airshaft outside your kitchen window

This morning, Kim, who lives on 10th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B, discovered that one of the juvenile red-tailed hawks from Tompkins Square Park was stuck in the airshaft of her building... just outside her kitchen. 

Oh hi.

The hawk appeared to be OK... just a little unsure how to get back out. 

With the assistance of her friend (and EVG correspondent) Steven, Kim contacted Ranger Rob — aka Rob Mastrianni, a Manhattan Ranger supervisor. 

Rob quickly captured (not his first airshaft rescue!) the young hawk, one of Amelia and Christo's 2023 offspring.

After examining the hawk and determining that it was not injured, Rob released the fledgling back into the park... where it likely met up with his two siblings.

   

And a little later... (photo by Steven)...

It takes 2

Photos by Steven 

Here are two of red-tailed hawk siblings at rest in Tompkins Square Park... enjoying the moment seemingly hiding amid the brush with parents Amelia and Christo keeping an eye from a distance ...

Hawkarazzi, busted...

Later, testing out the wings...

... and exploring...

Goggla has new photos of the three red-tailed hawk fledglings here.

Mid-morning juvenile hawk watch

Photos by Derek Berg 

One of Amelia and Christo's 2023 kids was out and about in Tompkins Square Park this morning...

See our previous post for more background on the red-tailed hawks.

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.

Nest Ball: Amelia and Christo's 2023 chicks make first appearance

Photos by Steven

ICYMI: It appears that red-tailed hawks Amelia and Christo in Tompkins Square Park have several hatchlings in their nest. 

Difficult to say at the moment how many... but observers have seen at least two fuzzy little heads poking up from inside the nest...

As always, follow Goggla for the latest on the red-tailed hawks... in this post, she documents Amelia and Christo brooding their eggs in late April.

A look at the remaining red-tailed hawk fledgling in Tompkins Square Park

Photos yesterday by Steven 

Amelia and Christo, the resident red-tailed hawks of Tompkins Square Park, welcomed three chicks to the nest this spring. 

Unfortunately, as you may have heard, two of them died last month. 

As Goggla first reported, a fledgling died on July 4 from what appeared to be frounce, "a naturally occurring illness that afflicts raptors."

On July 27, the second fledgling was found with its eyes closed and looking weak on a fire escape across from the Park on Seventh Street. Sgt Dan of the Urban Park Rangers was able to scoop up the unwell hawk, who died later that night at the Wild Bird Fund.

While a cause of death has not been determined, from what Goggla observed (and based on what happened in previous summers), she strongly speculates that it was rodenticide poisoning. 

Meanwhile, the third fledgling appears to be healthy, remaining active in the Park (despite this heat) ... and providing a thrill for onlookers... 

You can visit Goggla's site for more photos of Amelia, Christo and the fledgling.

Frequent flyers: The young red-tailed hawks in Tompkins Square Park

Amelia and Christo's 2022 offspring have been VERY active in Tompkins Square Park of late... learning to fly, hunt and drink water from a playground fountain, among other activities, like checking out adjacent buildings. 

Derek Berg spotted the two red-tailed hawk siblings this morning (above!) flying at a lower altitude route.

The photos below were from Sunday when Steven came across one of the juveniles wrangling a water stream on a Tompkins playground ...

Sadly, as you may have heard, the third fledgling died earlier this month, as Goggla reported. As she wrote, the cause appears to be frounce, "a naturally occurring illness that afflicts raptors."

And thank you to everyone who has shared photos of the young hawks!

Monday's parting shots

Photos by Steven

Here are two of Amelia and Christo's 2022 red-hawk fledglings in Tompkins Square Park... looking for something...

First red-tailed chick takes maiden voyage

Photos by Steven 

The first of Amelia and Christo's three 2022 red-hawk offspring has fledged... leaving the nest yesterday for a sturdy-looking branch in a tree away from the nest. 

Looking good!

Steven reports that a second hawklet made it out of the nest, landing in another part of the tree "and kind of got stuck for a bit in the thin branches."

The three chicks have grown so quickly (the first hatch was April 17, per Goggla).

Expect a lot of young hawk activity (flying at low altitudes, for instance) in the weeks ahead.

Given some potentially unsteady flying, please check out this post via Goggla about what to do if you need to reach someone regarding an injured hawk, falcon or other NYC wildlife. 

Red-tailed chicks continue to dine-in

Photos by Steven 

While the three Tompkins Square Park red-tailed hawk chicks are getting closer and closer to branching out and leaving the nest, they're not ready to hunt and prepare their own meals. 

In this sequence, Amelia makes an in-nest delivery (no third-party apps here!) ... before taking for Park parts unknown...

The three chicks have grown so quickly (the first hatch was April 17, per Goggla) and appear to be in their mischievous plotting phase...

Amelia and Christo's chicks looking ready to wing it in Tompkins Square Park

Photos Monday by Steven 

Amelia and Christo's 2022 chicks are GROWING so quickly... and looking more and more each day as if they're ready to branch out...

Goggla has excellent observations here about the hawklets, roughly 5 weeks old now... 

The appearance of the chicks will change quickly now. They will soon lose all the fuzzy down and should start exercising their wings more. The next step for them will be exploring the branches outside the nest... 

Goggla also shared some insights on photographing the red-tailed hawks or any other urban wildlife in a previous post. (AND PLEASE — NO DRONES!)

Once again, 3's company for Amelia and Christo, the red-tailed hawks of Tompkins Square Park

Photos by Steven

As you may have heard/seen, Amelia and Christo, the resident red-tailed hawks of Tompkins Square Park, have three chicks in the nest this spring.

Local red-tailed hawk documentarian Goggla first noted their arrival last week. Per her timeline:

The first hatch was April 17, but we were not able to see any of the nestlings until April 25. A second chick was seen April 27, and the third on April 30. 

Check out her site for more on the hawks — and other NYC wildlife.

The chicks are, as always, growing quickly... and coming into view for the hawkarazzi ...

This is the third consecutive year Amelia and Christo have hatched three chicks. Last year, just one of Amelia and Christo's three offspring survived. However, all three survived to fledge in 2020. 

Longtime hawk regulars may recall when Christo and his then hawk-pal Dora set up the nest in more precarious quarters, like an AC on the Christodora House (2014) or the Ageloff Towers (2015). 🙀

Wrapping up the summer hawk season

Photo of the fledgling atop St Nicholas of Myra on Avenue A by Goggla 

Seems like it's officially time to say happy trails to Amelia and Christo's 2021 fledging... the young one was last seen around the Tompkins Square Park home base eight days ago.

Goggla has a nice summer hawk recap, with photos and observations, right here. As previously reported, two of Amelia and Christo's three offspring did not make it this year.

And you can find some EVG hawklet coverage here ... here and here. 

One of Amelia and Christo's red-tailed hawk offspring has died

One of Amelia and Christo's red-tailed hawk fledglings died last night. 

On Friday afternoon, the young hawk was spotted in a dazed state on a fire escape behind a building on Seventh Street. (Thank you to Lauren of 7th Street for sharing these photos.)

According to residents, the hawk "flapped clumsily out of a tree onto our fire escape. Clearly not well, damaged wing or leg?"

Rob Mastrianni of the NYC Urban Park Rangers transported the chick to the Wild Bird Fund on the Upper West Side for observation. There was blood in the hawk's mouth. However, as Goggla noted in her post today, an official cause of death has not been determined. The young hawk was said to have a spinal injury.

Amelia and Christo, the resident red-tailed hawks of Tompkins Square Park, had three chicks this spring. One died from unknown causes in May.

The surviving two fledglings had been quite active in recent weeks, learning to fly and hunt.

And this is not the first time that the resident red-tailed hawks have suffered the loss of their fledglings. In 2018 and 2019, at least one of the chicks died from rodenticide poisoning.

Signing off with part of Goggla's post:

[W]e've noticed several dead rats in Tompkins Square Park and in the surrounding neighborhood over the last couple of weeks. This is NOT normal and anyone finding a dead rat should report it to 311. If one is found within the park, please notify a park employee so they can dispose of it. We have concerns that with all the trash in and around the park the last several weeks, people could be using rodenticide. We currently have an outstanding inquiry with the Parks Department to confirm whether or not they are still employing nontoxic dry ice for rat control.

Young red-tailed hawks are off to a flying start in Tompkins Square Park

The two young red-tailed hawks continue to be quite active in Tompkins Square Park, honing their hunting and flying skills. (Check out Goggla's site for more photos and commentary.) 

These photos by Steven from earlier this past week show one of Amelia and Christo's offspring heading out of the Park and onto a building on Seventh Street...

... and a rare photo of the siblings together...

... and with Papa Christo...

...and some bonus footage via Greg Masters of one of the juveniles with his very first pigeon...