Our nearest babies

The three baby hawks in Riverside Park that hatched around April 30 are huge. One has already hopped out of the nest to a higher branch several times, and is now an official "brancher". The other two are jumping and flapping -- what we used to call "baby on runway" -- back in the days when Pale Male's nest was active. That was between 1995 and 2004, up to the bleak day the nest was taken down by the 927 Fifth Ave management.

The two remaining nestlings are about to begin exploring the larger world too. Below, three photos taken this morning by Beth Bergman, (check out her blog, link below) followed by a brief commentary by Eli Miller, age 10, who accompanied me to the nest this morning.

Brancher out on a branch

Brancher heading back to the nest for lunch

Two big nestlings and one "brancher" back in the nest at Riverside Park
Three photos by BETH BERGMAN http://thebethlenz.blogspot.com/

Friday June 12, 2009:

11:00am: 2 babies in nest preening and grooming --Brancher out on a branch

11:02  Brancher hops to another very thin branch

11:03 Brancher flies back into nest

11:05 nestlings on runway - false alarm

11:10 three birds in nest

11:15 Brancher in nest (?) starts flapping

11:20 - 11:40  lots of false alarms from nestlings

11:45  Brancher hops out again

12 noon  Mama hawk arrives in nest to supervise lunch -- a rat.

12:02 Brancher quickly hops back to nest for lunch