Fordham final word & 7th Avenue fledgling follow up


(Photo credit - Christopher Lyons)

Here's a final word from Chris regarding the Fordham triplets. That's followed by the latest from the 888 7th Avenue fledgling.

I will never neglect the city's Red-tailed Hawks in my observations and journal writing, however, from this point foward I will spend more time on other nature observations. The hawks will inevitably end up somewhere in the big picture as a result of their position at the top of the food chain. Plus, they're just such amazing animals. Later today, I'll have a post and images from my most recent survey at the Ridgewood Reservoir in Queens.

Date: June 14, 2007 10:05:26 PM EDT
Subject: All three Fordham fledges doing fine

We got up to the roof of Dealy Hall, and there was a fledged Red-Tail, perched on the railing. And I didn't have my camera ready. Naturally. So we hugged the wall, scrambled to get our equipment out, and quietly implored the young hawk to stay put a few minutes, and he or she graciously obliged. For a few minutes. Then flew over to Hughes Hall, to join a sibling who was already there. Then Yolanda spotted a third browntail, over on Loyola Hall. This marks the first time I've seen all three outside of the nest at one time.

I won't be back on the campus until Monday, and in any event, I won't be reporting so regularly, now that fledging has concluded--and on the whole, what a refreshingly quiet, well-ordered, and controversy-free fledging it has been. Quite unlike the 'Ziegfeld Follies'. But of course you always have to head for Midtown to see the big productions. ;)






(Photos by Christopher Lyons)

Here's the second installment on the plight of the Midtown fledgling from the New York Daily News.

Baby hawk refueled, clear for takeoff soon

By Nicole Bode
Daily News Staff Writer
Friday, June 15th 2007, 4:00 AM

The fallen baby hawk rescued in Manhattan was nursed back to health yesterday with the help of a surrogate mama - and he may be ready for release soon.

"He's stretching, he's exercising his wings. He's doing everything he should be doing," said licensed wildlife rehabilitator Bobby Horvath, 44, who has been caring for the red-tailed hawk, dubbed Ziggy by a reader at NYDailyNews.com, at his Long Island home.

The 7-week-old fledgling was grounded Wednesday after losing control during his first flight and plunging into a courtyard near the Ziegfeld Theater on W. 55th St.

Yesterday, Ziggy took a step closer to a return to the urban wild.

After spending the night resting in Horvath's home, the brown, white-speckled hawk migrated in the morning to the backyard, where Horvath keeps a 25-by-12-foot flight cage. It's 9 feet tall.

The hawk immediately befriended the cage's other resident: a permanently flightless red-tailed hawk named Diana.



"He went right up to her," Horvath said.

Ziggy let out a piercing scream - hawk baby talk for, "I'm hungry."

The 10-year-old mama hawk, who was shot in the wing at age 3, went to work.

Using her beak, Diana fed the youngster a breakfast of chopped rodent. Then she sat beside him on a wooden branch, feathers puffed in a sign of maternal protectiveness.

Still, Horvath worried about the hawk's recovery time. There's only a narrow window for returning missing hawk chicks to their nest.

By the end of the day yesterday, the baby still hadn't taken a full flight.

"We want to get it back, but we don't want to rush it just to satisfy people who want to get it back in the wild," Horvath said.

Meanwhile, city birders anxiously awaited Ziggy's return.

Accountant Brett Odom has been monitoring what he believes is the hawk's nest from his midtown office window since the parent hawks arrived there this spring.

Since the fledgling went missing from the nest on the 36th floor of 888 Seventh Ave., Odom has watched the mother hawk waiting in the now-empty nest and searching the area.

"I hope he comes back soon," said Odom, 36, of Chelsea. "She's probably wondering where he is."