Report from Hawk Bench

Two chicks in Fifth Avenue nest--May 2003
Photo courtesy of PaleMale.com

[Please note the year the above photo was taken. It's only a Preview of Coming Attractions, we hope.]

Report from Hawk Bench -- 5:00 to 7:00pm:

I raced down to the Model-boat Pond just after Rik Davis's call and the quick posting of Rik's news on this site.

Between 5 and 6:30 or so I saw Pale Male's mate -- maybe we can start calling her Mom ---stand up in the nest several times and then make feeding motions directed at something deep in the nest. The small group [including a crew from ABC News] at the Hawk Bench reported that Pale Male had delivered a rat to the nest earlier that afternoon . Now the old Paterfamilias was sitting on an antenna atop the "Oreo Building" around 79th Street, with one of Rik's telescopes trained on him. The other scope was focused on the nest.

At around 6:30 pm "Mom" settled lower down on whatever there was in the nest -- a chick, or eggs or both-- and that was it for the day.

The evidence is not yet conclusive. But it still appears that at least one chick has hatched in the nest at 927 Fifth Ave.
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More tomorrow,