Central Park Red-tail Family Dinner with Mom and Dad Sheep Meadow and the Three Eyasses

When I arrived at the Sheep Meadow Nest, Mom was watching something in the distance while holding a rat.

 Mom then lifted the rat in her beak, looking particularly "hawkie".

She then went about breaking through the tough rat skin opening it so the eyasses, they have begun feeding themselves, will have easier access.   
(Not to worry Mom still comes in and feeds the youngest eyass and fills up everyone's empty corners.)

She's still working at that skin.

 Then something catches her attention.  

I note that the squirrel that was dropped previously is still hanging from the twig.

 

 When I look up  there's Dad coming in and he too has a nice juicy rat to contribute to dinner.

Mom flies over to the nest with her prepared rat.

Dad watches her fly over to the nest. 

 Dad flies over to the nest tree with his rat.

Then Dad flies off the nest tree and back to his previous branch.

 Dad and Mom have a moment of communication.

Dad takes off...

....carrying his rat.

Dad heads off in the direction and angle of the nest.

Brakes.

Adjusts his angle of flight.

Then manages to manipulate has speed and angle to go round the middle trunk of the tree and land so he doesn't squash either Mom or the nest.  
 This bird can fly.

He drops off the rat...

And heads back to his original perch.

Ta da!

  Then he watches his eyasses for a moment.

Dad looks.

And he's off again.

The eyasses watch him go.

Mom flies over to the observation perch and watches him go.

And the eyasses start in on the rat dinner on their own.

I get a look.

Number two pops up.

One and Two look at their sibling and the rat.

They bend in...

Then everybody eats!

Happy Hawking!
Donegal Browne

Part 3 of Pale Male and Octavia Do a Dynamite Demo for the Kids

Having intentionally flown circles over the trees where the passerines  tend to mob the hawks Octavia waits at one of her favorite perches on Linda for some of the feistier birds to come after here...and she waits some more.

 Eventually a Mocking Bird appears to take on the challenge.

 

 The eyasses watch the Mocking Bird attack Octavia.

I wonder if she not only watches the Mocking Bird himself but also notes his shadow.

Then nothing.  The Mocking Bird for whatever reason has fled.  She waits...and waits...and waits.

 The eyasses loose interest.  And  the next time I look Octavia is gone from her perch.  What happened?  Stella points.

Accidental human intervention.

Large does a little flapping.

 The light goes completely rosy and it's time to walk our way out of Central Park.  Tomorrow is another day with the promise of more unexpected surprises.

Happy Hawking
Donegal Browne

Pale Male and Octavia Do a Dynamite Demo for the Kids, Saturday continued...

Pale Male and Octavia seem to have made themselves scarce.  There doesn't appear to be a whole lot going on at the nest either...at least for the hawkwatchers who have seen the eyasses wandering around up there many times before.  But for the folks who haven't...there is utter delight and so we introduce passers-by to the joy of hawk watching.

Far left only partially in the picture is David who brings two scopes to the Bench, one to be trained on the nest and the other on any adult who may be perched in view...just to introduce people to the hawks! 

 Next, wearing the navy baseball cap is Tosh.  He fills people in about the Sheep Meadow Hawks plus the Hawk History of NYC which he's gleaned from those who have been at it longer than he's likely been alive. It's important to pass it on!

 Behind Tosh in the white cap, his face unfortunately obscured, is Carlos who takes great pictures of the birds and puts them on youtube.  (And I'll get a great pic of him too soon.  I promise.)

Next over talking to the kids is Stella who brings her "Stellascope" not only  for the hawkwatchers but for the line of park patrons who are constantly wondering what we are up to.  Their faces transform upon looking at the nest under magnification...lots of Wows, and Unbelievables as you might guess.

Well, while all that is going on...our stealthy Fifth Avenue hawks were putting on a demo which we didn't really catch was happening at the time.

I began to slightly register that the "dickey birds",  as one of my old profs used to call song birds, had begun scolding over in the tree tops at the north end of the Model Boat Pond.

A Red-tail which I tentatively identified as Octavia by the wingspan appeared for just a few seconds out of nowhere and disappeared quickly traveling east beyond Shipshape.

Just as she went out of sight Pale Male appeared flying north over Shipshape as obvious as he could be.   Rather like he'd been Octavia and had circled the building and come out the other side.  Hmmm.

He then headed north just as obvious as you please.

Past the Carlyle....

 Past the last building on the block...

And then did some extremely obvious sky dancing.

 Until he managed to attract some attackers.

 Although as he headed back south, his attackers gave up.  Possibly because one of  their attacking number had been nabbed by Pale Male only a few days ago and eaten.  Perhaps he can still lure others on his obvious way back.  He gives it a try.

 When Pale Male gets back to Linda, one of the favorite places the dickey birds love to attack him, there are still no irate attackers so...Time for Red-tail Plan B.

Pale Male comes off the Linda building midway in the block so the Fisher building masks his stealthy approach uptown.

Do you see him?  See the highest terrace?  Look under the dark gray horizontal brace that is holding the railing in place.  See him now?   He is mostly under it.

He now flies across the exposing jut of Fisher using the glare to mask his flight.  Then goes deep between the buildings.

.Then uses the decorative molding on 927 to make his way...

 ...further up to the cornice so he has a variable background with an overhang plus he'll be high enough to pass over the nest and perhaps get the attention of the eyasses so they might watch this particular hunting technique and learn by example. 

It looks like at least two eyasses are watching.

 Then he drops down to mask his approach to the next building.

Pale Male uses the side of the jut out on Barbara Walters to mask his approach and continues these techniques until he is well past the line of buildings that encompass The Oreo and still keeps going until he is almost out of sight.  Out of our sight anyway.   Octavia's hawk eyes could likely tell what color talon varnish he was wearing at that distance, that is if he wore any.

 Then Pale Male circles, the common attention getting device to communicate with one's mate over a long distance.

I'm thinking, what now?

(Hear Flight of the Valkyries in your head.)

I don't know about you, but I personally wouldn't pick on this bird!

After circling for several minutes attracting negative attention from the "dicky birds"...

Octavia flies off to her favorite perch to await the wrathful passerines.  

It takes a few minutes for the little guys to get there.  They just don't have the wings she does.

To be continued...later today!