Ten apples and a flat sponge

They returned the third nestling to the nest.

The most incredible photo is here:
http://www2.fi.edu/images/hawkjun82.jpg

...showing the wildlife rehab guy, holding her, just inside the window before placing her back on the ledge (where she hopped back over to the nest, where I've been watching her off and on last evening and throughout the morning, as always.)

I love that photo, because it shows the shit-spattered window I'm so used to seeing, it shows the camera up above the ledge, through which I've been watching this whole drama, and most of all, it shows the BIRD. What an amazing creature, close up! Her silvery eye, her enormous size, seen now with added human for scale, her amazing claws...and all this power and size, from a creature still too young to fly properly!

I'm glad to have her back. I bought a betta fish for my desk, so that even when the hawks were gone, I could have a creature to keep an eye on while I work...but another week or two of hawk-watching via webcam is just fine with me.

ETA: Aww, one of the siblings came by with a rodent, to share with the nest-bound youngster. Hawks are the greatest; looking after each other like that.

Who would have thought, the little late hawk, the tiniest one, would be the bravest and boldest and first to go? I'm watching him take off and land, take off and land from the nest. He looks around at his siblings as if to say "Whatchoo hangin' around here for? There's a whole world out there!" Then he cocks his head this way and that, and then goes for another takeoff.

You can almost see his enthusiasm. My baby is flying!

Feeding time! A parent (I think Dad, but I'm not sure) brings food for the babies. I watched them eat. I watched them poop. I watched them ripping something to shreds.

The adult flies away, while three little faces peer after.

Three little faces, peering. Peering is what hawklets do best.

The other two soon go back to sleep, but Wobble has the world in her sights and is going to look all around for as long as she can. Here, you can see how tawny and golden her feathers have gotten.

Hard to imagine, with her sitting up this proud, that there are two more just like her, completely out of sight below the rim of the nest.

"Whachoo lookin' at, wingless creature?!?"

*I can't really tell the chicks apart, of course. I just assume that the most advanced one is the firstborn.

So yesterday I went over to visit the hawks and see how the situation is.

The babies (if you're watching them on the webcam) are growing long legs and large wings, and they have visible wingfeathers forming at the tips, and they like to stand up and bounce on their legs and stretch their wings in the air. I wanted to see how visible they'll be, once they start taking their first airborne voyages.

At first I was surprised I didn't see more "action" over the rim of the nest. I know from the cam that they like to sit up, now, and peer down on the city from their window seat. But at first I saw nothing.

Then I noticed Mama Hawk was watching from a point higher up on the building. Here, I will show you:



The nest is not on the side with the main entrance, where the public comes and goes. It's on the side facing the Parkway, and you can tell here how far away I was from the building, and my back was against the fence by the underpass, so there's quite a distance between the building and the actual heavy traffic. It's noisy, there, but they're not going to leap out of the nest and onto a highway or anything.

I even took a picture to show you the green grassy area directly under the nest box. If the babies jump and fall (which they will NOT, but you know how I fret, so I'm checking out these things), this is where they'll land:



But mostly, I just watched the box.

Mommy left after a while, and then soon Daddy (smaller, greyer) came swooping in and spent some time chilling on the windowsill.

Here he checks everybody out. "Hey, are you guys okay?" "Yeah, Dad. We're fine. What'ja bring us?" "Nothing, just hanging out this time". "Oh, okay, then."





The first time a face came peeping over, I just laughed, and couldn't take a picture. Another time, I saw two full faces, peering around, but I was holding my camera against my chest and all I got were pictures of the top of the window.

I did not get to see a feeding.

I did get one picture of one of the little guys stretching his wings:



Mostly they were just humping, bumping grey activity along the edge line of the box. Only now and then did I see actual little heads popping up. They look darker, from below, with little solemn black faces.

One of the main things I noticed was the enormous amount of general bird activity in the vicinity. Traffic was roaring behind me, and I know the nest is always filled with the bloody remains of smaller birds and mammals that the parents have killed, and yet the whole area is filled with chirping, and sparrows flutter right by under Mama's nose, unconcerned, and even squirrels are dashing this way and that, totally unconcerned that predators loom overhead, looking for the next meal to bring home to the babies. From watching the webcam above, I feel like these hawks must surely have that whole area contained, wreaking havoc amongst the wildlife...but from the ground, you see that they take what they need, and they really don't care about any of the other birds. Right around the corner, there's probably another nest of robins or sparrows or doves, raising their own meek little family. And all our traffic? That's their own background noise. They don't give the slightest care about us, either.



This is Daddy, watching me watching him.
I feel like a giddy fan, approaching a celebrity. "Heh heh, I watch your show EVERY day! Can I get an autograph?"

ETA: an updated portrait of the chicklings, especially one little guy sitting up and looking around:

Hawk family snapshots, for today. The whole family is present, and half a rabbit lays off to the side (left side of screen.)

Here they are, all in a line. LOOK HOW BIG THEY ARE!!!

Here little Wobbly is showing off by standing straight up on his legs, lower screen, and looking around with his little hawk-face.

Mama left part of a rat in the nest and one of the babies was pecking at it, straight, today. They're learning to eat on their own.

I feel so proud.

Once Wobble, Bobble, and Doddy are less wobbly, bobbly and doddering, like when they fledge and start practicing to fly and hunt on their own, I will go down to the Parkway with my camera and take pictures of them in person.


I can be your Philly hawk-baby liaison.

Number three is hatching! The hole in the egg has turned into a line,
and while mommy fed the other two chicks, number three pressed on his
shell enough to wiggle out one pathetic little stumpy wing and wobble it
all around. We have one wing free! Soon he'll be out, all the way.

In the meantime, chicks #1 and #2 squabble over the mouse bites, pecking
each other even though they can barely hold up their heads. They have no
table manners whatsoever!

After weeks and weeks of waiting and watching, two baby hawks are here, and one is on its way!!!!






I had to work on Friday, so I took my paid holiday "Good Friday" day today, to hang out with Dan on his day off. In the afternoon, we walked by the Franklin Institute and looked up at the nest from the ground for a few minutes, wondering if we'd see a hawk come or go.

We did not. We got back home and check the camera, however, and found that hatching action has been going on all day long. We were probably standing there, staring at the nest from the bottom, about the time chick number two flopped its weary way out of its shell.

This is amazing. (Yes, Murphy, amazing. I am amazed.)

Live feed:

Live Streaming by Ustream.TV


ETA: I just got to watch mama hawk feed baby #1. Baby chick#2 seems too exhausted from the effort of hatching to eat just yet. She/he flops around with pathetic little stumps of wings, for now. But baby#1, in spite of having a newborn's wobbly head, is very hungry and takes little strips of mouse from the mama (which she strips off of a variety of mice she now has cached around the nest.) Mama pulls of a bloody strip, and baby chick wobbles with open beak to get it. They are very gentle. And the chicks are very fluffy. I think I love them.

Red-tailed hawks have built a nest on a ledge at the Franklin Institute, overlooking the Parkway.






Dan has been watching them wheeling and soaring from his job on the Parkway. Then, he heard the news about the nest, and that the Franklin Institute has set up a camera inside the window so that we can all watch the hawk family live, online, whenever the sun is up.

We like to keep a window open on the computer so we can keep tabs on their comings and goings. Two days ago, there were two eggs. Sunday, we were out of town and missed the activities, but today, a THIRD egg is there.

A few minutes ago, I was watching the eggs while the feathers lining the nest flutter around, and cars roll by in the background. Then, I looked up, and there she was: the mama hawk. The mama and papa take turns sitting on the nest. (I can't tell them apart, but Dan can.) Dan and I take turns fretting over their well-being. When the eggs are uncovered, we check the temperature out and wonder if the eggs are warm enough, if the parents have been gone too long, etc.

I'm sure they will be fine, but I will fret for them just the same. I can't wait until the eggs hatch, and we can watch hawk chickies do their hawk chick thing. This is way, way better than the Discovery Channel, even.

[Edited to add the link to the webcam: http://www2.fi.edu/hawknest.php]