General Update

Astoria Park: I saw the RTH pair (Atlas and Andromeda) and their two eyasses at Astoria Park this evening. The eyasses have grown a lot in the last 10 days. They are both standing up on the edge of the nest and flapping their wings in anticipation of fledgling. I believe they are around 5 weeks old now and should be fledging in the next two weeks.

Unisphere: The third fledgling continues to explore its territory and is making nice progress. It looks to be a male, so I decided to name him Christopher after Wildlife Rehabilitators Bobby and Cathy Horvath's son. Every time I visit, I find him in a different area of the park, ripping leaves and twigs apart, and probably wondering why he has Robins constantly surrounding and harassing him. He seems to take it all in stride though, and looks content in his expanding territory.

 Christopher

The first Unisphere fledgling, Sadie, was returned to the park after 3 weeks in rehab with Bobby and Cathy Horvath this past friday (6-25-10). She had a minor leg injury after fledging, but is now healed and ready to resume her life in the wild. We attempted to release her hoping she would land in the same tree as her brother Christopher, but she had other plans, and flew more than two hundred away into a London Plane tree. Curious as to what was going, Christopher chased after Sadie and landed in the same tree as her. He checked her out and let out a few loud yelps, hopefully in approval that his sister has returned.

Sadie

Based on the success they had raising 3 fledglings last year, Bobby and Cathy decided to release an unrelated fledgling they received from Westchester a few weeks ago with the Unisphere RTH pair. It is not uncommon for birds to become foster parents for another birds offspring, and Red-tailed Hawks are no different. This was attempted 2 years ago at Astoria Park and was greatly successfully as both parents were spotted feeding and watching over a fledgling from the Houston Street nest. This fledgling, named Nicholas, is male and he fledged the nest several weeks to early. No one is sure where he came from so re-releasing him in Westchester is not a good option.

 Nicholas

LIC Kestrel: I continue to see the parents and at least two fledgling Kestrels. I haven't spent enough time there to see how many total fledglings they have this year. Its a good area for a nest and there is plenty of places to fledge to without them getting grounded and needing rehabilitation. 

Woodside: I continue to see both Woodside RTH's regularly, but it doesn't appear they have attempted to build another nest. Probably have to wait till nest year for any more news on them. 

Citifield: I have not seen either of the Citifield RTH's in over a month.