The fledging was not quite as smooth as we thought...

It seemed this morning that the eyasses had had a most successful fledge, and they all seemed to be heading off smoothly into Chapter 1 of Life Off The Nest.

I headed to the airport at 2:30 PM to drop off a friend who was flying to England this evening, and on the way back decided I would make a quick detour to the nest to see what was up with the eyasses. I parked on Winter Street, right under the nest, and started scanning the trees along the street to which the eyasses had flown earlier.

Then came one of those "Houston, we have a problem..." moments.


I was startled to catch sight of an eyass right beside me on the wall behind the parking meters on Winter Street. It was calmly looking through the railing down onto the mayhem of Saturday afternoon Vine Street Expressway traffic.

This image is deceptive as it appears that there is merely a nice grassy meadow on the other side of the railing, but between the railing and that "meadow" - really only a weed-strewn bank - is a six lane highway. Thank goodness the gaps between the railings were too narrow for a young hawk to push through.

The eyass seemed quite content to sit in the shade, so I set off down 21st Street to see if I could locate any more hawks - parents or eyasses - in the nearby trees.



When I was on the Ben Franklin Parkway, I looked back to see that our adventurer was still tucked behind its lily bed, surrounded by cars, and with its feet literally six inches from the drop-off down to the Vine Street Expressway. Thank you, City of Philadelphia, for your close-set railings!



I found no hawks anywhere, so headed back to Winter Street. Sandy Field, aka Joisey, was there and was aware of the eyass on the wall. Sandy and I kept interested onlookers at a distance from the eyass so it would not get stressed.

Sandy Field and Mary Gamble Barrett took several of the photographs that you see here, and were among the many people down there who were deeply concerned about the plight of this hawk.

The eyass then left the shade under the tree and started walking along the top of the wall. At one point, the eyass started to show increased signs of wanting to get across the Vine Street Expressway to where probably the rest of its family was in trees on the other side of the Ben Franklin Parkway. It tried to scale the railings (look near the top), and this was an incredibly stressful moment, knowing that the expressway was right below the railings, and with no confidence that the eyass could fly across that expressway if it reached the top of those railings.


Fortunately, the eyass came down off the railings and continued its march along the wall.

I took this picture at the end of the adventure when we knew that the eyass was safe, so this is night light, but shows the wall along which the eyass walked. You can see the signage below on the expressway,


At this point, Gene Mancini from the Franklin Institute arrived and told us that the Schuylkill Wildlife Rehabilitation Center had been alerted about the eyass. Gene gently encouraged the eyass to move back down the wall towards the safety of the bushes.



The eyass stepped back under the trees and seemed much calmer. After a few minutes, it literally "crashed," flattened out and went to sleep on the wall. It must have been exhausted from all the excitement and a day's activity out of the nest.



While all this was happening, we noticed the tiercel above us on a ledge of the Franklin Institute, keeping an eye on the proceedings.



I had to leave at this point to zip home to feed/walk my young golden retriever. Sandy Field and her husband stayed on site to keep the constant onlookers away from the hawk.

When I returned, I learned that the eyass had not only woken up, but had traversed the entire fence wall down Winter Street...



... hopped off the wall down to the parking area...


... and then miraculously hopped/flapped/ran across the Ben Franklin Parkway to the base of the Civil War monument without getting hit by a car.


It had traversed this grassy area, and then crossed a lane of traffic over to the monument.



By now, it was attracting a lot of attention, and several hawkaholics were there trying to keep it safe, and gently move it away from going in a dangerous direction.



It tried unsuccessfully to climb up the side of the monument.



Fortunately, Rick Schubert from the Schuylkill Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic arrived. He and his helpers assessed the situation. Suddenly, the eyass seemed to gather strength and purpose, and for the first time flew rather than ran, got airborne, and made it safely to a tree alongside the Ben Franklin Parkway.



Rick and his crew stayed for a while to make sure the eyass remained safe. Here they are just before taking their leave. Rick is on the right.



When I left, the eyass was preening and generally getting comfortable in its tree after its far too busy afternoon and evening.



A second eyass was settling down for the night in a window ledge on the Franklin Institute


I could not find the third eyass, but no doubt it was in a nearby tree. So ended the first day out of the nest for the eyasses. Let's keep fingers crossed that the next few days are calmer!

Update on fledging from John Blakeman

I sent John Blakeman the news about the fledging. He is pleased at how well it went, and sent back these observations:

"Thanks for the update on the fledgings. They went rather as I expected.

The strength of their initial flights reflects, once again, the ample amounts of food they consumed during their entire time on the nest. I never saw an instant when food was in short supply, This allowed perfect muscular, nerve, and feather development.

This was just plain perfection, the results of an experienced pair of parent haggards who now know everything it takes to raise a family of eyasses on the Parkway in Philadelphia."

-- John Blakeman

We have lift off - all three have flown the nest

The nest is now officially empty.


Around 6 AM yesterday, June 11, the first eyass safely took flight from the nest. It landed on top of the Civil War monument about 100 yards from the nest.



About 30 minutes ago, at 7:12 AM (Saturday, June 12), the second eyass took off from the nest, shortly followed by the third. Hawkwatchers on the ground this morning report all three are now sitting in nearby trees with the haggards in attendance.

Unlike last year's shaky first flights, these eyasses all seem to be flying really strongly and are landing well!

The formel just visited the nest and removed the remains of that rabbit visible in the nest picture above, and will probably deliver it to one of the eyasses.

Here are some pictures from yesterday (Friday, June 11) taken by Kay Meng and George Lloyd of the first eyass out in the world.

This is the tall monument about 100 yards from the nest with an easy flat surface on top - perfect for one's first landing! Ironically, the carving is a stylized eagle, and the eyass seems to be peering intently down at those wing feathers!



The young hawk was soon visited by the formel. The haggards (parent hawks) are totally aware of where their youngsters are, and will bring food to them as they learn to perfect their flying and hunting skills.



The eyass seemed quite comfortable up there - doing some more wing flaps and then preening.




I will be posting frequently here with updates and pictures of how our young hawks are faring in their next excellent adventures.

Let's congratulate the Franklin Institute on successfully providing and managing this superb nest site for the hawks that allowed them to bring their second brood to fledging.

A wonderful way to show our appreciation of the Ustream web cam feed they provided us to watch this unfolding hawk drama would be to become a member of the Institute and/or visit the stunning Cleopatra exhibition which is now showing.

They're still on the nest - yay!

After all the excitement over the weekend about whether any of the eyasses would take their first flight on Sunday or Monday, we still have all three on the nest on Wednesday afternoon, June 9.


I use the term "on the nest" loosely as they are literally bouncing off the walls - or at least the ledge - as they jump increasingly higher in their trips from nest to ledge and back again.

I commended John Blakeman for his call on Sunday that they still looked to be a few days away from fledging.

John replied:

"Yes, they just looked too immature [on Sunday] to be flying off just yet.

Getting much closer now, though. One of them, with a childish impulse, could jump up into a wind gust and find herself wafting out into the Philadelphia skies at any time.

But the haggards continue to provide ample food, so hunger is not much of a motive. They could remain as nest hang-abouts for another week if lots of prey continue to be dropped off.

Nothing certain now. Feathers are getting close to uniformly hard-penned. First flights can happen at any moment now.

--John Blakeman



Here's a picture from this morning of some of that ample food that the tiercel continues to tirelessly deliver.

Will they fly today? Maybe not.....

Hawkfans are on the edges of their seats wondering if today will be the day that the eyasses fledge and take their first flights.

I sent John Blakeman some pictures Kay took yesterday of their outstretched wings and asked him how close he thought they were to flying. Maybe not as close as we think....

John writes:

"Very close.

But the closeup of the heads of the birds indicates to me that it may be three or four more days. The birds seldom fledge until the head feathers are rather more fully emerged from their sheaths there, and that didn't look to be the case.



The head feathers are still a bit short and compressed, not fully extended yet.



And the same is true of the long flight feathers in the wings, too. They are still tender and "in the blood."






Still, an eyass could hop off the ledge tomorrow (Monday). Or, more likely I think, it would happen towards the end of the week."

-- John Blakeman

[Last year (June 12, 2009), John sent us this information about "in the blood" regarding Miss Piggy's premature flight ]

"As the feathers grow out, they actually have blood vessels within, nourishing the growth of these miraculous body features. So, for a while, heavy blood remains coursing through the big tail and wing feathers. Until this ends, when the bird is “hard penned,” the wings are a bit heavier. Right now, all three birds should be close to being hard penned, allowing for much better flight.

The feathers are not completely emerged from the feather sheaths. That’s what the eyasses have been attending to for much of each day in the last weeks. Everyone has noticed how much time the birds spend “preening,” tucking their heads down into their feathers. They are using their bills to strip off the drying feather sheaths, allowing the growing feathers beneath to emerge. For the large flight feathers, the feather sheaths still remain at the base and shank of the larger feathers."

-- John Blakeman

So close...so close to fledging

Another wonderful visit to the Boardroom yesterday was somewhat poignant as Kay and I realized that this might be the last time we would see the eyasses on the nest prior to fledging.


They have matured so much since our last visit only a week ago, and there is no white baby fluff to be seen, except for the tiniest dandelion-like wisp on the top of their heads.


Their plumage is now almost complete, and we all hope they wait till those wing feathers are totally out of the casings before their first flights.



Strange forces were at work yesterday, it seemed, when Kay discovered that the battery pack was missing on one of her cameras. Her second camera worked fine - for a while - until it suddenly signalled that the battery was no longer powering. In all the hours I have spent with Kay, she has NEVER had a camera malfunction, let alone two; her preparation is meticulous.

I thought I would save the day as, for the first time, I had brought my teeny point-and-press digital camera. I always leave the photography to Kay, but just this once, I had decided I would take a couple of keep-sake pictures of the eyasses. When I turned on the camera, the screen stayed dark while a nasty little message announced, "Memory card error - no images," and showed a zero where there should have been the number of shots still left on the card. The camera was inoperable, despite it having worked perfectly a couple of hours previously, and no prior incidence of this problem. I removed and replaced the battery and memory card several times - nothing.

So, despite capturing some wonderful images of the eyasses and both haggards on the nest during the first hour, we were camera-less when the eyasses started bouncing, flapping and flying from nest to ledge and back again. It was as if the Fates had decreed that we should focus completely on watching the eyasses on the nest - perhaps for the last time - without the distraction of photography.

It was another baking hot afternoon, and though the nest is in shade at that time of the day, the eyasses were clearly feeling the heat and panting.



We had a great view of their tongues - not much different from other animals' tongues except a little narrower.



And how many people ever have the chance to see a red-tail hawk's tongue? The intimacy of one's connection to these wild hawks only a couple of feet away, inquisitive and completely unafraid of us is a miracle.... a gift of a lifetime.



The combination of curiosity and panting provided some hilarious expressions from the eyasses.



This one was yawning at us, not screaming!



And they continue to be fascinated by the strange creatures behind the glass.



They spend a lot of time preening themselves, and one of them managed to get a small feather stuck on the end of its beak.


It tried to scratch it off with a talon, then rubbed its beak on the nest twigs, but simply could not get rid of that pesky feather! Finally, as it sat there at a loss of what to try next, one of the siblings suddenly leaned forward and pecked off the feather!

The tiercel made several food deliveries of young robins which the eyasses gobbled immediately. This was the only time he stayed long enough for Kay to photograph before the camera gremlins struck.


He usually lands, drops the prey, and is off again, but this time he took a moment to catch his breath. He definitely is the major food provider, and hunts much more than the formel.

The formel did appear - she thundered in, landed on the ledge, and glared at us.



She is magnificent, so powerful......



.... a bird who is definitely at the top of the food chain.




Her talons are a fearsome sight ....



.... and in stark contrast to the bright, spanky new, unused talons of the eyasses.



We also got a great view of that signature red tail.



Speaking of talons, one of the eyasses relaxed by tilting to its left side, and used its clenched talon as a support. Look how beautifully constructed the talon is, allowing the claws to fold around the foot with no damage.



The formel then flew from the ledge right into the middle of the eyasses who immediately stopped eating and stepped meekly aside. She stayed there for a few minutes, and never took her eyes off us.


Then she was gone, soaring strongly across the Parkway to settle in her favorite tree.

For the rest of our visit, we watched the eyasses stretching their wings, flapping, jumping, catching air, and getting a little more airborne each time they traveled between the nest and the ledge. It can only be a day or two more before that first flight..... let's hope we don't have a repeat of last year's Rescue of Miss Piggy Incident (see June 6, 2009)

So when I arrived home yesterday evening from the visit to the Boardroom, I told the story of the weird camera malfunctions, and turned on my inoperable camera to demonstrate the unusual error message. It immediately lit up brightly with its usual cheerful chirp, and the screen indicated that the memory card had 200+ shots still to take. Go figure.......

How fast they grew; how much they changed

Here's a really interesting series of almost weekly Ustream screen captures from Karen McCunney that shows the phenomenal growth rate of these eyasses.

Mom with her three eggs on March 20, then both parents on April 22 with the newly hatched eyasses.



On May 6 - Mom is on the nest, and then the whole family gathers for a portrait plus the ever-present greenery!



The first picture is from May 24; feathers are growing in fast--- the second is from May 10 when you could barely make out the beginnings of the feathers.



Two days later on May 12, the feathers are more visible, and on May 15 feathers are appearing everywhere except for their heads.



From May 23 to May 27, the difference in size between the eyasses and their parents shrinks daily.



And yesterday, on June 2, Kay Meng's pictures show that the eyasses are now very close to their first flights from the nest


and are getting airborne as they move back and forth between the nest and the ledge.