Your Contributions to the PALE MALE NEST SYMPOSIUM, Have Born Fruit!

Pale Male and Lola stare into the bowl of the nest. March, 2007

Remember last fall when we all came together in the PALE MALE NEST SYMPOSIUM here on the blog to discuss our thoughts and ideas as to just what might be going wrong and causing Pale Male and Lola's nest to fail?

Ideas came from all directions. There were comments from Central Park Hawk Watchers, Hawk expert John Blakeman sent in his theories, readers of the blogs and Audubon members variously suggested the Venturi Affect, drafts, heat loss, poking spikes, not enough nesting material, virility, and toxins due to rat poison or pesticides and there were notes of support and interest from folks at NYC Audubon.

Well, the seed that was created, germinated, and watered by your discussions during the Symposium seems to have been grown and quietly tended by NYC Audubon with their investigations during the ensuing months.

Below find an announcement to be posted on NYC Audubon's website (see links) concerning Pale Male and Lola's nest from Executive Director Glenn Phillips.

Late this fall, NYC Audubon embarked on a project to understand what factors may have contributed to the lack of propagation over the past three hawk seasons. We have enlisted the help of local and out-of-state red-tail experts to review the field observations, pictures and other data gathered over the years and as recently as earlier this month. Our primary objective is to understand what may be behind this outcome to date. We all hope this spring will be a new beginning!

Glenn Phillips
Executive Director New York City Audubon

Here's to understanding, plus "...hope this spring and a new beginning!"

Stay tuned!

Donegal Browne