Happy [one month] Birthday to you, babies

Photo from 59th St construction site by
Lincoln Karim
July 5, 2005

According to C.R. Preston's account of the Red-tailed Hawk in the authoritative text Birds 0f North America:
"Young typically leave the nest for the first time about 42 - 46 days after hatching."

The Birders' Handbook gives a fledging window of 45-46 days.

The first egg of the Trump Parc nest hatched on June 3. The second egg hatched on June 4. [A third egg did not hatch.] Unlike at the Fifth Ave nest where we had to guess when exactly the eggs hatched -- we couldn't look directly into the nest there -- here we can pinpoint the exact day of hatching. From the 65th floor of our gracious friends' apartment in a building with a direct view of the nest from the south-west, we were able to see the actual hatch or something very close to it.

Forty-two days from June 3 brings us to JULY 15. That's when the window of opportunity for fledging opens. It closes on JULY 19.

Note: The fledging windows given in biologists' accounts are usually
accurate. The first fledge is very likely to occur between 7/15 and 7/19.

This is going to be exciting!