Wednesday's parting shot

The fledgling ponders a sign in Tompkins Square Park today... photo by Steven.

Weekend hunting trip with the juvenile red-tailed hawk in Tompkins Square Park

Christo and Amelia's hawklet was quite active this past weekend... with numerous sightings as the young red-tailed hawk continued to hone his food-gathering skills.

On Friday, Christo brought a mouse by for a snack. Unfortunately, as these photos by Steven show, the mouse fell off the branch and into the bush below during the exchange from father to son. The young hawk spent considerable time looking for the mouse...









In the end it was just easier for Christo to drop off another mouse...



By Saturday, the juvenile was on to larger food sources... this photo is by peter radley...



Yesterday, the young hawk caught a squirrel ... these two photos are by Steven...





And it also appears that the young hawk has (hopefully) recovered from his recent malaise...

Previously on EV Grieve:
The EVG podcast: More hawk talk with Laura Goggin

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]

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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

Thursday's parting shot

The fledgling in Tompkins Square Park is losing patience with all these photo ops... thanks to Steven for the shot...

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."

1 of the 2 red-tailed hawk fledglings in Tompkins Square Park dies from secondary poisoning

[Photo from July 3 by Goggla]

The older of Amelia and Christo's two red-tailed hawk fledglings died early Sunday morning.

Last Wednesday, NYC Urban Park Rangers took the sick hawklet from Tompkins Square Park.

Early testing showed anemia and exposure to rodenticide. The hawk was in the care of the Wildlife in Need of Rescue and Rehabilitation Inc. (WINORR) the past few days.


[Photo last Wednesday by Goggla]

WINORR's Cathy Stpierre shared an emotional Facebook post yesterday morning, writing in part:

[T]his is so gut wrenching. I've put all my efforts and energy into trying to fix the selfishness and ignorance of the human race. This beautiful young soul will never sore high up in the clouds bringing the caring people joy and happiness of watching his magnificence. He never got the chance to live his life. Instead he suffered a horrible death. How hard is it to clean up after yourselves and take pride in our planet and all that live in it???

Goggla has more here:

Secondary poisoning happens when one animal (like a rat) eats poison, then the predator who eats the prey animal dies from the poison. Our hawk likely ingested rodenticide from a poisoned rat or mouse that was brought into the park by its parents. Tompkins Square Park does not use rodenticide, but the surrounding area is full of it.

She also links to Raptors Are The Solution (RATS), an organization dedicated to educating people about the dangers of rodenticide.

Amelia's eggs arrived in late April. We got our first look at the chicks in early June.

A fledging in Tompkins Square Park, and in rehab

As Goggla reported yesterday, Urban Park Rangers removed the older of Amelia and Christo's fledglings, who fell sick, in Tompkins Square Park. (More on that in a minute.)

Meanwhile, the younger fledgling continued to entertain in the Park ... Steven shared these photos from today...













... eventually the fledgling took a bow...



... and then went up into a tree and ate a pigeon or something...



As for this fledgling's sibling... Bobby Horvath of the Wildlife in Need of Rescue and Rehabilitation Inc. (WINORR) posted an update on Facebook. Per Bobby:

After being delivered to the Animal Medical Center the exotics dept. did blood work to check for West Nile virus, lead and rodenticide poisoning. Early results showed anemia and exposure to rodenticide so immediate treatment was started. It may also have either of the other 2 ailments but those results won't be known for a day or 2. Medication and supportive care hopefully can reverse any damage and this young male can recover.

Interestingly enough, he's at the same facility as Dora... I'm not sure how you'd describe this relation...

Updated 7/29

Unfortunately the fledgling died early this morning. Early test results showed anemia and exposure to rodenticide. More to come...

[Updated] Sick red-tailed fledgling taken away from Tompkins Square Park for evaluation

[Photo by Goggla]

In recent days we've enjoyed watching the younger of the two red-tailed fledglings frolicking in Tompkins Square Park.

However, as Goggla noted, Amelia and Christo's older fledgling has kept a lower profile, staying perched in a tree.

And yesterday, the hawklet looked unwell. NYC Urban Park Rangers Rob Mastrianni and Nick Baisley came to the Park, and took the hawklet to the Animal Medical Center for testing and evaluation, Goggla reported.

Here's a video of the capture...



Visit Goggla's site for more photos and updates.

Updated 7/29

Unfortunately the fledgling died early this morning. Early test results showed anemia and exposure to rodenticide. More to come...

At play in the fields of the hawks

The younger of Amelia and Christo's two fledglings has been putting the main lawn in Tompkins Square Park to good use... Derek Berg shared these photos from the Park this afternoon...





Goggla has more photos and a great video of the fledgling playing in the Park ... right here.

Sunday's parting shot

Derek Berg took this photo of one of the red-tail fledglings in Tompkins Square Park today...

Hawklet watch on 8th Street

Since fledging on Friday afternoon, Amelia and Christo's chick has been hanging out on a fire escape along Eighth Street between Avenue B and Avenue C. EVG reader Mike shared these bird's-eye-view photos from the scene...

Welcome to the neighborhood: Mockingbird dive-bombs fledgling on 8th Street

Earlier today, the first of Amelia and Christo's offspring to leave the nest received a welcome from a mockingbird on Eight Street between Avenue B and Avenue C...

... complete with a few dive-bombs...



Thanks to Steven for the photos!

Young hawk flies the nest

One of Amelia and Christo’s two red-tailed hawk chicks in Tompkins Square Park fledged the nest yesterday afternoon (2:02 p.m., per a hawk watcher on the scene)... Steven caught up with the fledgling at St Brigid's on Eighth Street and Avenue B late in the afternoon...







The fledging ended up flying across Eighth Street and perching on a fire escape... where Steven spotted her/him this morning.

Head over to Goggla's site for a complete narrative and many more photos.