The two remaining eyasses at first were amazed at what their sibling had just done....
... but soon seemed completely unconcerned by their sibling's adventurous exploits.
At around 12:50 PM, the explorer jumped back up into the nest, and all three were reunited.
Every day brings new developments at the nest, so I'll try to bring everyone up to date with what's been happening.
The growth rate of the eyasses is astounding. Here they are on May 16 inspecting a white rat meal... lots of fluff on the eyasses and hardly any feathers to be seen.
By May 22, many feathers had emerged on their wings and backs, and the fluff was now mostly on their heads.
Gravely inspecting a rat drop, wondering how to unzip it...
And yesterday, May 27, looking really grown up with feathers coming through on their heads, and hardly any white fluff left.
The characteristic peach coloring on their chests is also starting to show.
They are curious and observant of everything that goes on around them...
... and especially when something interesting happens in the Board Room...
... such as Kay changing her camera lens
... which seemed to mightily amuse this eyass! Mom, meanwhile, could care less.
The food drops have been cut back to one rat per day put out in the early evening. T2 is really getting a grip on hunting for the eyasses. Here he is bringing in a rat...
... and heading back out to the hunting fields.
He is not bringing as much "big stuff" (rabbits and pigeons) as Dad used to do, so by dropping a rat in the evening it ensures the eyasses get a good feeding at least once a day.
T2 continues to fly in whenever he sees a rat on the ledge
After he picks it up, he literally seems to weigh his options...
... goes to Plan B...
... and heads out with the rat to get it ready for feeding.
Mom always seems more intimidating when she heads in to check out the rat.
She is less tolerant of potential rat thieves...
... than T2 who is curious rather than aggressive.
Now that the eyasses are more independent, the haggards spend less time on the nest, but they are usually very close by, keeping their hawk-eyes on the nest. They spend a lot of time on the beautifully carved ledges above the nest. The haggard is right at the top of this image in the middle.
Mom gazes down at the nest from her corner perch....
.... and T2 watches from farther along the ledge.
This particular ledge is known as the bathing ledge because it has a steep slope back to the wall which collects rainwater. The haggards love to bathe there, and often appear happily disheveled after a bath.
Mom can almost always be found at the top of her favorite tree immediately across from the nest. She is much lighter in weight than she appears, able to alight easily on the topmost twigs.
The haggards also hang out in the trees over by the Barnes Museum...
... on the satellite dish on the nearby Park Towne Place apartment building (one of the highest spots around),
Jack Walters... and sometimes they just soar together in the skies above the Franklin Institute.
Perhaps some of this "together time" is to catch up on what didn't happen for these two -- the pair-bonding activities that usually occur in the fall and winter along with nest construction and then egg laying.
Just before the four week anniversary of losing Dad, this touching memorial appeared on the fence right below the nest. (I apologize for the lack of attribution for this image - having downloaded it, the original no longer seems to be on the Hawkaholic Facebook page.)
We have no idea who wove the roses onto the fence, and they were gone a couple of days later, but what a lovely way to honor the magnificent hawk we now call T1, as we celebrate the miracle of T2 who arrived just in time to keep this hawk family viable.
T2 has become an expert eyass feeder...
... knowing exactly the right size to tear each tasty morsel.
Despite his best efforts, however, greed sometimes prevails! The eyass at the back is attempting (successfully, it turned out!) to swallow whole the entire hind limb of the rat.
Mom is often on clean-up duty, removing the almost empty rat skins to keep the nest clean.
In addition to heading out onto the ledge, the eyasses are strengthening their wings and legs with vigorous flapping or "wingercizing!" Last week, they could not fully stand up on their long legs...
... but this week they are standing tall and pushing off a bit more. They will soon be "catching air" when they combine flapping with jumps and bouncing.
Because they have spent so much time sitting down, the feather down has been rubbed away from the backs of their legs.
At this point, all the wingercizing is done facing the window with their backs to the world. A clear sign of imminent fledging is when the eyasses flap-jump facing forward, when all it will take to fledge is a forward launch.
It will be about a couple of weeks more until fledging, so let's enjoy the remaining time they are on the nest. Here are some wonderful images from Kay Meng and Scott Kemper of T2 who has become such an integral and important member of the Franklin Institute hawk family.
Here is a close-up of T2's scimitar-like talons, steel-sharp and deadly.
And from the sublime.... to the greedy. Yesterday evening, there was a five-hawk feeding frenzy on the nest (how can five hawks fit?) as they ripped apart a rat, a mouse and a bird.
The family that picnics together, stays together.
And it surely does look that this family will be together for a while...
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Oh my, Della, you have created yet another fabulous telling of the extraordinary story of our FI hawk family! Your use of the gorgeous, delightful, touching photos - awesome! Thank you, thank you talented, treasured, brilliant writer and photographers! Ann in Devon
ReplyDeleteYou are all amazing. Della for for wonderful informative and entertaining writing and the positively unbelievable photographers who have some how managed to capture these stunning pictures. Can not thank you enough for your brilliant
ReplyDeletereportage and pictures.
The photos are absolutely brilliant and you tell a fascinating story. Thank you so much!
ReplyDeleteDella,
ReplyDeleteI am in Palo Alto, CA... and I thank you for bringing your fabulous writing skills to this blog. I look forward to your postings.. you are wonderful to spend so much time on these so that all may enjoy!