Friday, June 15, 2012

Young hawks out on the town

Now with several days of fledging under their talons, the Franklin Institute eyasses are looking great!  Each day shows increased flying skills - landing, perching, taking off - and fewer beak plants.  They spend a lot of time clambering around on the Franklin Institute...

          Joe Debold


... in the Barnes Museum gardens

          Kathe Rowan


... on bus shelter roofs.  (The Franklin Institute is in the background)

          Shannon O'Donnell


... and strolling through the park in front of the Franklin Institutes's main entrance.

          Shannon O'Donnell


One of the eyasses spent a night in a bush outside the Central Library.  Maybe it felt comforted by the proximity of a three-paned window - such a familiar backdrop.

          Shannon O'Donnell


The haggards - Mom and T2 - keep the eyasses in constant sight.  Here's Mom on Tuesday, June 12, in her favorite tree top...

          Joe Debold


... and on a lamp post near the nest.

                           Joe Debold


As the haggards hear plaintive food calls from the hungry eyasses, they encourage them to fly to the food drops by flying past them and leading them in.  Here's T2 landing on the well-provisioned monument.

          Joe Debold


The eyasses quickly learn that they have to fly to get their food - no more take-out from the window!  Gotta launch to that monument if you want to eat.

          Joe Debold

          Joe Debold


Unlike the sheltered ledge of the nest, it gets quite windy on the top of the monument, so they are learning to feel the wind and keep their balance.

          Joe Debold

          Joe Debold


Whenever they catch sight of a haggard, they watch intently.

          Joe Debold


When they get hungry, they call out plaintively, almost sounding like a seagull.

          Joe Debold


Mom caught them a mouse...

          Joe Debold


... and headed over to the monument...

          Joe Debold


... to drop it off.

          Joe Debold


The moment she lands, there is a total food frenzy...

          Joe Debold

          Joe Debold


.. and she gets the hell out of Dodge as fast as she can!

          Joe Debold


The winner of the food fight...

          Joe Debold


... then "mantled" over the mouse.  Mantling or wing-covering of food is a well-known hawk behavior where the bird spreads its wings out over the food, bends over, and conceals the food from the direct vision of other hawks.

          Joe Debold


In its excitement at devouring the mouse, the eyass ripped off, then lost track of the mouse's head, which lay behind its tail.  Its sharp-eyed - and hungry - sibling immediately saw a good food opportunity...

          Joe Debold

          Joe Debold


... and dove forward to grab it.

          Joe Debold


Another memorable food frenzy occurred when T2 brought a rabbit to the monument.

           Joe Debold

The oh-so-greedy eyass tried to swallow the entire rabbit head, much to the other hawk's apparent amazement.

          Joe Debold

Finally, when it had swallowed all but an ear... 

          Joe Debold

  ... the eyass had to regurgitate and start over, and now its sibling is almost falling over in disgust!

          Joe Debold


When the eyass eventually stopped eating, its crop bulged out almost grotesquely.

          Joe Debold


But wait.... there's more!  Quite a bit of the rabbit remained, and when the other eyass made a grab for it, the carcass somehow fell over the edge of the monument.  Houston, we have a problem....

          Joe Debold


Hunger is the mother of invention, and this resourceful eyass figured out....eventually

          Joe Debold


... how to get the rabbit back on top of the monument...

                    Joe Debold


... without dropping it

          Joe Debold


 ... or losing its balance.

          Joe Debold


Watching the eyasses eat is not for the faint of heart!

          Joe Debold


The big excitement on Tuesday was President Obama's visit to the Franklin Institute for a couple of fundraising events and dinner.  It would have been interesting to navigate the Secret Service if we were still doing food drops!  The eyasses, however, did not miss a beat even though their immediate environment was suddenly filled with a Presidential motorcade.

This is behind the wing that contains the Board Room, and the tent has the President's limousine backing in so that he could enter through a secured entrance.  The Board Room windows are on the third floor on the end, and an eyass is sitting hidden in the corner of the window above the lamp post.


          Shannon O'Donnell


This shows the window above the tree where the eyass looked down on the motorcade.  The nest is around the front in the window above the lit street light.

          Shannon O'Donnell


The motorcycle escort parked on the other side of Winter and 21st Streets.

          Shannon O'Donnell


The Presidential limousine waited at the main entrance of the Franklin Institute...

          Shannon O'Donnell


... and in the pouring rain, Mom watched to be sure her eyasses stayed safe.  They probably have as good a security detail when she's on the job as does the President.

          Shannon O'Donnell



Wednesday, June 13

After the heavy rains of the previous day, this eyass found a patch of early morning sun in which to warm up ...

          Shannon O'Donnell


... much to the surprise and delight of pedestrians heading to work.

           Shannon O'Donnell
 
          Shannon O'Donnell

          Shannon O'Donnell

                            Carolyn Sutton


Soon, a line started to form, and those familiar with the saga of these hawks shared information with those who were not.  We have encountered great good will, pride and interest in the Franklin hawks.  They are city celebrities!

          Carolyn Sutton


A similar scene took place on the steps of the Franklin Institute, where an eyass sat at the base of the far left column.

            Carolyn Sutton


Despite the proximity of the people, the eyasses seemed quite unconcerned.  This one started to preen, a sure sign of well-being and comfort...

          Carolyn Sutton


 ... while this eyass was far more interested in what was happening inside the bush than in anything on the street.

          Carolyn Sutton
 

As always, Mom watched her eyasses from afar, all the way over on the roof of the Franklin Institute.  She's the tiny dot above and to the right of the eyass's head.

                            Carolyn Sutton


T2 was doing his part too, keeping close watch from the top of a spotlight.

                            Shannon O'Donnell


Soon, it was time to eat, and Mom gathered everyone at the monument for a rat-snack.

          Carolyn Sutton



With everyone fed, Mom retired to her lofty neon perch to keep watch from a distance.

          Scott Kemper



Thursday, June 14

As if this year has not provided enough hawk drama already, we have a fledged eyass who likes to return to the nest to sleep.  This has never happened before, and in the previous three years of the hawks at this nest, it has been several weeks before an eyass has returned to the nest.

Here it is flying in during the early evening.

          Pamela Dimeler


          Carmen Corrigan


... and settling in for the night

          Pamela Dimeler


Here's how it appears from the street, with the magnificent chandelier in the Board Room faintly visible.

          Shannon O'Donnell


Early on Thursday, Joe Debold found this eyass waking up on another window ledge near to the nest.  This one does not appear to be a morning hawk!

          Joe Debold


          Joe Debold


It started calling out for ledge service...

          Joe Debold


... and when that didn't work, it took off in dashing fashion...

          Joe Debold

          Joe Debold


... though it needed to get its undercarriage up a little more efficiently...

          Joe Debold


... and tucked...

          Joe Debold


... but it is definitely getting The Fierce Look organized...

          Joe Debold


... and proudly demonstrates perfect perch technique.

          Joe Debold

                       Joe Debold
 

They are starting to show hunting behaviors.  As this eyass watched small birds in the tree above it,  its left talon was twitching and letting go of the perch...

                       Joe Debold


 ... which almost proved disastrous.

          Joe Debold


Then it was time to start the piteous food calls again.

                       Joe Debold


Another eyass flew in from the Library to the Franklin Institute roof...

          Joe Debold


... and then headed down to a friendly window ledge also in hopes of getting fed.

          Joe Debold


Continually calling out, it then headed for a tree...

           Joe Debold


... where the haggards had left some food.

          Scott Kemper

                          Scott Kemper


Sometimes, a "prepared" meal shows up on the ground.  This decapitated rat showed the marks from the powerful talons that killed it.  The removal of the head makes it easier for an eyass to get inside the tough skin.  Often, these ground drops were originally placed in a tree and then fell out.

          Scott Kemper


All three eyasses are flying really well, and demonstrating skills in this first week off the nest that are appearing much earlier than in previous years.  This eyass showed great tenacity in getting back onto the nest when its landing approach...

          Scott Kemper

... didn't quite measure up

          Scott Kemper

          Scott Kemper

          Scott Kemper 


Mom flew swiftly over to the Franklin Institute...

          Scott Kemper


... and made a perfect landing

          Scott Kemper


... and showed off her angel wings (thanks to Scott for that apt description!)

          Scott Kemper


Eyass angel wings in a stiff breeze.

          Scott Kemper


It's great to know that all three fledged eyasses are doing so well.  Once again, I must express my deepest appreciation to all the photographers and screen capturers who so generously share their gorgeous images.

Thank you all so very much!

12 comments:

  1. To all the image capturers and to YOU, Della as well.
    We owe all of you an enormous debt of gratitude for continuing your superb reportage. Fact filled, fascinating and amusing. Better than anything else in Philly!!

    Love this today, as always, Thanks so very much.

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  2. Wonderful updates & pictures. Thank You !!

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  3. It was heavenly to read this update. I cannot thank you enough for your splendid, funny and accurate descriptions, and of course without the photographs, the words would have less impact... so thanks to everyone involved. I hope you all decide to publish these photos and story. It is marvelous!

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  4. Thank you so very much for posting the marvelous pictures and your comments, Della. They are all greatly appreciated.

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  5. Thank you to everyone involved with the precious Hawk family. The stories, pictures and descriptions of all babies are so interesting. Can't thank you enough. Can't wait for next year for another family.

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  6. I enjoy this story so much. You have a clever way of describing the beautiful pictures. I was crying with the fathers day story and then laughing with the eating the rabbit story. I hate it when the end comes to a story...so keep on! Thank you so much.

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  7. The re-cap of the arrival of T2 still brings tears to my eyes - Mother Nature is amazing indeed in how she takes care of her own....I really think there's a wonderful children's ook in all of this - what a great story to tell school kids in teaching them about birds & nature. Could be used in conjunction with coverage of next year's brood.

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  8. Where is the monument in relation to FI?

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  9. The monuments are about a half block away as the hawk flies. They are on either side of the Ben Franklin Parkway center lanes, just north of the FI. The parkway goes off on an angle in relation to FI from NW to SE (or vice versa). If you were to look out the window (that had the inside camera) to the right, you could see them.

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  10. I just found a red feather on the ground, near the Cathedral at 17th and the Parkway. It's 8 inches long, it is red, with black markings at the end. What does this mean? I often see a red tail hawk perched on ledges at the Cathedral. On Thursday, June 21st, I thought the one that I saw perched, was a young one.

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  11. That is probably a tail feather from one of the adult hawks. They do start to molt during the summer.

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