Five fledged babies plus two very protective parents equals total chaos during feeding time. The birds all move generally as a group with each fledgling in a different state of being fed. I located four of the chicks over Broadway and it seemed most had eaten already as they had full crops. There was one male chick however that kept begging over and over. Eventually, he flew over the Church, where mom appeared with a freshly caught adult male starling.
Every chick within earshot lit out after mom,
while she deftly transferred the starling in mid air to the begging male.
He landed nearby with sis in tow.
She eventually got the message that this was her brothers kill and flew off. Meanwhile the hungry little dude pretty much devoured every single part of the starling.
After consuming the bird, the chick was joined by mom.
Such incredible birds!
3 comments:
Excellent shots, thanks for sharing! Are there previous records of pairs with 5 chicks in NYC?
Love your pics. Hope to meet you at Riverside or water St one day.
Hope to meet you someday. I watch both riverside and water St.
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