One more to go at Riverside nest

Second juvenile ["Beta Baby"] out of the Riverside nest
photo by Beth Bergmann


Beth's blog -- http://the bethlenz.blogspot.com gives all the latest news of the Riverside Park redtail nest [near the Boat Basin -- around 82nd St.] . Great photos too. Here's her report of yesterday's [6/15] events:


During the morning the first two "branchers" were out on limbs of the nest tree, which left the third baby alone in the nest receiving a lot of attention from Mama, much more than usual. For the first time this baby ate large pieces of food, was fed at shorter intervals, tore food himself (don't know if this is a male), and at one point spread wings and covered the food, (very obvious manteling). Hmmmmm..... all mine?? Mama continued to bring twigs to the nest, sat in nearby trees watching her family. Papa soared overhead calling loudly, the message- "Look at me. Come on up here. Fly!"? That's my conjecture. For now I'll refer to Baby #1 as Alpha Baby, the second baby as Beta Baby, and the third baby as H.A., Home Alone. Alpha Baby moves along the limbs with confidence. Beta Baby is tentative, but honing skills, still bobbling around on the tree limbs. H.A. is clearly lording it over food and enjoying the attention. H.A. hasn't really been doing a lot of trampoline exercises, but did manage to bounce once to the lip of the nest and onto the side branch for about three seconds. For the morning he seemed more interested in protecting the food. Mama was in and out of the nest frequently. She flew food out of the nest, perhaps a lure for getting kids fed-on-branch.