Eyasses before and after the Fourth of July

Hawk Central these days is the Barnes Museum construction site. It's hard to imagine a more unlikely spot in which to find a family of wild red-tail hawks!



But every morning, you will find at least one eyass sitting in one of the huge cranes.



This site is directly opposite the Franklin Institute, about 200 yards away on the other side of the Ben Franklin Parkway. This is the view from the site looking over to the Franklin Institute. You can see the nest window to the left and up above the blue, red and white flag.



Last year, this area was the favorite hunting ground for the eyasses, and we called it The Meadow for obvious reasons.



There's not much meadow left now, but it is still where early morning hawk watchers will find several of the hawk family. The parents seem totally unfazed by all these changes from last year, and of course, this year's eyasses know nothing different.



The formel spends hours sitting high up on the tallest crane, and this week we have also seen the tiercel land a couple of times on the cranes, but he rarely stays more than a few minutes.



The morning routine usually begins at first light with food drops from the parent haggards. We have heard much less squawking so far from the eyasses this year as the haggards seem to be keeping them very well fed. It is now impossible to tell them apart in terms of oldest and youngest. All three are strong, and flying more skilfully every day.

Landing on a skinny, bouncy tree limb is a piece of cake for these intrepid fliers!


Kay, Carolyn and I spent a couple of sultry hours with the eyasses early on the morning of July 3. As usual, the twins were hanging out together; where one goes, the other is certain to follow in a minute or less, it seems...



... and they zero in on the same squirrels and birds as they perch together in the foliage.



When you see one eyass in a tree, it's always worth looking carefully above and below it to see if you have found the twins!



And they still spend a lot of time on the ground.





These gorgeous images from Kay Meng show their magnificent plumage, and the yellow eyes that distinguish them from mature red-tails.





The stump of a London plane tree along the Parkway provided a firm table-top for one of the eyasses to eat a parental food drop.







Red-tail hawks are not the only creatures sending their young out into the world this spring - there are innumerable young squirrels bustling around the Parkway trees. They seem as clueless about the danger from hawks, as the eyasses do about how to catch them!

We watched a hilarious "hunt" as a young squirrel bumbled around in the grass and leaves at the base of a tree, and an eyass peered intently at it from a branch above, uncertain what to do next.

"Jump, jump - just jump down on it," I found myself thinking!

Eventually the eyass flapped/jumped out of the tree, landed about two feet away and pursued the squirrel on foot - or rather, on talon. The squirrel, of course, raced around to the other side of the tree as the eyass stood there puzzled.

Yesterday, on July 5, Carolyn and I made a quick visit to make sure everyone had made it safely through the huge Fourth of July fireworks display literally in the sky right above their Parkway trees. Happily, we found the entire family at 5:30 AM perched on various spots around the Barnes site.

The twins quickly made their way over to the Rodin Museum garden, one of the eyasses' favorite hunting spots - though I use that term loosely as we have yet to see them actually catch anything other than seed pods and small branches!

They start their hunt from a high vantage point...



... then swoop down at whatever looks worthwhile...



...then up on the fence to regroup.



This eyass tries to organize its thinking around the latest squirrel appearance...



.... as its twin takes decisive action. My point-and-press camera barely captured the eyass at the base of the fence, and the squirrel clinging to the tree trunk at ground level.



The hunt continued at a walk with neither party quite sure what to do.



Then the hunter made a move, and the young squirrel fortunately got its act together and escaped.



Meanwhile, back up on the fence the Thinker reached a conclusion and decided to go for it, though "it" was long gone!



But there's always another tree, and another hunt to start.



What an extraordinary experience it is to be literally only yards way from these eyasses as they figure out their world, and gradually develop their hunting skills.


John Blakeman comments on these latest activities:

"The walking around of newly-fledged eyasses isn't much known or written about. But you have it nailed exactly. These young birds in June and early July do walk around a lot and play with stuff on the ground. That will change rather dramatically when the haggards become more stingy in providing food. The eyasses will go from pleading, ill-behaved youngsters to more aggressive adolescents in the coming weeks. Soon, they will never be seen on the ground or on low perches except in the direct attack on prey.

The reduced vocalization or "screaming," as we falconers call the plaintive cries of the summer eyasses, indicates clearly that the parents continue to provide ample food. These birds just aren't as hungry as last year's brood. The parents now have their act entirely together, with no shortages of anything. They are dutifully overseeing the maturing of their offspring. They've now done this before, and as with hunting, the haggards don't forget a thing from last year's raising of the kids. They've seen it all before, no matter how adolescent or cantankerous the eyasses might tend to be in the coming months."

-- John Blakeman