Pale Male and Octavia, The Search for Rose of Fordham Continues, Rare Cooperative RTH Behavior!

 
Photo courtesy of http://www.palemale.com/
 The ever industrious Pale Male is still twigging for the 927 Fifth Avenue nest.
 
 Photo courtesy of http://www.palemale.com/  Octavia has developed the sleepy eyed hormonal look of a sitting formel.

 Hawkwatcher Al Olsen reports that Octavia had to wait almost three minutes beside the nest bowl after a break for Pale Male to give up sitting the eggs and make his exit.  Though I, and no one else I know, have ever observed Pale Male feed his eyasses, one gets the idea he thinks that prodigious hunting is a better use of his time, he has always displayed a grand fondness for sitting on the eggs.

No one so far has reported that Octavia has had to give him a poke with her beak to get him out of the nest bowl, on occasion, Lola, a mate of many years, periodically did oust him off the eggs that way.

June 2007, Hawkeye and Rose of Fordham 

Rose of Fordham has still not been sighted by any of her watchers and things are beginning to look grim,.

   I did receive some fascinating behavioral information from a birdwatcher at the NYBG.  Rose was observed hunting with her son called the Alpha Son or Jr.  They also double teamed the Great Horned Owls at their nest site.    I know of only two instances in which two Red-tailed Hawks participated in team hunting and both of them were bonded pairs.  Making cooperative endeavors by a mother and son even more rare.

  Mama and Papa in the Bronx were observed hunting pigeons in tandem by Jeff Kollbrunner and I observed cooperative hunting in the County M rural pair.

From  NYBG Birdwatcher-

On two occasions I saw Rose and Jr (as we called him) harassing the Great Horned Owls. It was unique behavior as he would land on a branch and the male owl ( defending the nesting female) would go into defense mode - shouldering his wings and hissing. Then Rose would suddenly appear on a branch in back of male owl- cornering him. I have never observed RT act this way before.  

Since then I've observed Rose and Jr flying and perched together. I ID her by band, color pattern and size. Last year I saw them hunting in the same manor, one distracts the prey - while the other goes in for the kill. 

I haven't seen Jr in quite sometime either. [Last observed by NYBG Birdwatcher about four months ago. DB] He was very brazen and people tolerant often buzzing the tops of our heads as he flew by. 

I watched Junior on the Museum bldg nest.  He was very aggressive in the nest and first to fledge.  I am certain it was this young male that hunted with Rose. 

Rose's favorite place to perch was the Native Plant Garden. The Garden has done extensive construction. Maybe this drove her away.   

There is another garden volunteer that photographs RT all the time. I will contact her and see if she has captured  any pictures of Rose, lately. 

Fingers crossed.

Donegal Browne

Chris Lyons Continues the Search for Rose of Fordham

 
 The nest at Fordham with eyasses of a previous season. 

 Chris Lyons, who has watched Rose, first with her mate Hawkeye, and after Hawkeye's death by secondary rat poison, has watched she and her now mate, Vince, continues his search for the missing Rose.   

Chris wrote:
One of the people I contacted yesterday was Bobby Horvath, and he said he hadn't been notified about a female he banded having been found dead or ailing.   There's no guarantee that she'd be found if she died, or that the one who found her would know who to contact--but she is banded, and that may eventually yield information.  

 I'm hoping somebody will have seen her alive, but from what you say, that is sounding less likely.   Rich Fleisher hasn't seen her lately, but he hasn't had much chance to look.  He did see one hawk near the nest some days back, but that could have been Vince.  Over at the Botanical Garden, a sick hawk was found recently, but no mention of it being banded--I'm trying to get more info.  It will take some time. 
I would hate to think it was poison.   Call me a romantic, but I'd rather she died in fierce battle with a a rival female, or a Great Horned Owl, or got hit by lightning, or anything else, anything.   I hate it that we do this to them.  It's a bad way for them to die.  I don't even put out poison for the mice in our apartment anymore.   

 Chris, I completely and utterly concur.  According to STOP THE POISON activists  in NYC, there are numerous towns in California that have seen the light and outlawed rodenticides.  We all need to work to educate the public that sanitation is the only weapon that actually works to stop infestations of rodents.

And poisons are just not an option!  Particularly non-species specific poisons which injure or kill wildlife, pets, and even children every year.  That's too large a price to pay for being slovenly when a little care would nip burgeoning  rodent populations in the bud. 

Also, I received several emails from readers who are unfamiliar with the Fordham site.  Therefore, a few words about the Fordham Nest ... 

The Fordham site is likely the most fledgling friendly building nest in the city.  The overhang protects the hawks from a good bit of weather and trees as you can see, are within feet of the building.

Those handy trees at nest height, make the fledge of these eyasses far more similar to the fledgling environment of hawks in a non-urban nest while having  the shelter of a building to protect the family earlier in life.  


With a short flight hop, the youngsters can "branch" within the trees.  They rarely if ever get grounded and fly back and forth so frequently from the nest that it is difficult to tell whether the eyasses have already fledged or not as they so easily return to the nest.

More as it happens!

And don't forget the NYU HawkCam and chat are up...
 http://www.livestream.com/nyu_hawkcam
Donegal Browne 

Rose of Fordham May Be Missing!

 
 June 11, 2007- Rose of Fordham prepares a pigeon for one of her fledglings, who is doing a high wire act on a nearby pipe, in hopes of luring him back towards the nest.
 
 Initially he takes no notice being fascinated by his new surroundings.
 
 But then he sees Rose and the pigeon. And typical of a hungry eyass flies straight for her.   Rose has to beat a hasty retreat not to be knocked off the roof peak.  Her progeny looks surprised at her rapid exit.

FAST FORWARD

March 19, 2013-As I often do at this time of year, I emailed Chris Lyons one of the chief watchers of the Fordham Hawks, to check on how the resident hawks are doing--  Rose, the female of long standing, and Vince, the  tiercel that came into the territory when Hawkeye, Rose's mate of many years, died of poisoning several seasons ago.   And as they  do have two sites they've used, part of the big news every year is which site they will be using this season.

I was fully expecting that Rose and Vince would have chosen either their Fordham nest site which is their usual choice or as they have much less frequently done, taken up somewhat similar digs in the nearby Botanical Gardens.  And that they would be well on their way to yet another prolific season.

On March 20th Chris responded: Last I checked, all was well with Rose and Vince,  but I just got back from a trip, so I haven't had a chance to see if they're sticking with the old nest site.   Let me get back to you on that. 




Then, Chris Lyon's unsettling response written today, March 22nd...

I'm still trying to assess the situation--I saw Vince today (well, I saw an adult male Red-tailed Hawk who matched Vince's description), but I did not see Rose, and I did not see fresh pine boughs on the nest. I have not actually seen two Red-tails together on campus since I got back.   They were courting a few weeks back. 
Today, I saw Vince grab a half-eaten prey animal and fly around with it, and he would periodically emit these plaintive high-pitched calls.  As if he was waiting for Rose to show up and accept his offering.   And she didn't.  
I'm inquiring with a source at the Botanical Garden to see if maybe she's set up housekeeping there again, but I don't see why she would, since there's no construction going on near Collins Hall this year.   I also emailed Rich Fleisher, [The other chief watcher of Rose and Vince. DB] who hasn't put any new hawk pictures on his site since early February. 
I'm not assuming the worst, but I'm contemplating it.   I may be projecting, but Vince's behavior seemed agitated somehow--even worried.   Maybe he knows something's happened to Rose, and he's trying to attract a new mate before the breeding season ends.  That's not such a romantic interpretation, but it's just as poignant. 
She'd be around 11 or 12 years old now, assuming the nest on Creston Ave. was her first. 

My response--
 

Oh Chris, this doesn't sound good at all.  The behavior on Vince's part is reminiscent of  Pale Male's behavior when he couldn't find Lola.  He'd have food and call and call for her to come and get it.

If Rose is missing, and I can't think of any other reason that they wouldn't be together right now, I'd say that Vince doesn't know what happened to her and is still hoping to find her.

 Comparing Vince's behavior to some of Pale Male's, (PM has been through a good many mates in the last several years), it is only after he'd given up finding Lola that another female appeared in the territory.

 In the case when one of his later mates was poisoned, Pale Male had been attempting to get her to react to him by bringing food to a nearby tree and calling.  Eventually she fell from her perch dead.  Before long Pale Male had a new mate.  In my opinion he'd seen this mate dead, knew she was gone,  and therefore he then allowed himself to be courted.

The biological imperative takes over, and according to John Blakeman there is always a free floating non-mated group of Red-tails looking for an open spot in a territory ready to bond, particularly at this time of year.  If Rose really is gone, Vince will likely take a new mate in time to breed  this season. 

It will be so terribly sad if Rose too has disappeared like so many other well loved hawks of name in the last couple of years.

Do please keep us updated.
Best, D

I always try to look for all the possible causes of any given behavior.  This is stretching it but weirder things have happened.  Perhaps Chris is right and Rose has decided that she'd prefer The NY Botanical Gardens site this year.  Following that thought... perhaps Vince is attempting to convince her that Fordham would be better.

Wishful thinking on my part I'm afraid.   

When it comes to the nest site choice, the formel is the Queen of the World and the tiercel gets cracking making her choice the best nest he possibly can.

I'm still hoping all is well with Rose and Vince.   I'll let you know as soon as I know.   Stay tuned.

Donegal Browne 

A HAWK SEASON OF DESPAIR- Four Gone in a Month

 Intrepid broods eggs.  Her three eyasses that season were accidentally poisoned on the nest by being fed a poisoned rat.

 Photo Donegal Browne

2011-Young Ginger Lima, recently deceased,  tends her eyasses fathered by Pale Male- photo courtesy of palemale.com

                
From Myisha Priest,  hawk watcher,  NYU professor,  and the host of a seminar that 

celebrated the wildlife of New York City --


                                    Donna,                                    
   I just read the news of Intrepid. Heartbroken. She was singular in her ability to persevere. Though I guess they all are, which is one of the reasons we love them. Remember when her beak was broken and she made it through the winter anyway?
  What a sad hawk season. Violet, Lima, the Southside hawk and now Intrepid. Yet they say that grief is the price we pay for love...
 I send wishes for peaceful rest for those who are gone, wishes for better times for those who are here, and kind thoughts to the hawks and the tender (and bruised) hearts of those who love them.

 Myisha your note is beautiful.  Thank you.  I am afraid that my heart, among many others, has been bruised very badly this time around.

There have been times of despair before for those who love and attempt to succor New York City's urban hawks but the last year, which includes the long drawn out travail of Violet due to  human failure, has been, I think, the darkest.

Though there is no proof and may never be, as the testing of the very common Red-tail Hawk for poison is low on the list of priorities for the financially strapped New York State Wildlife Pathology budget, the known evidence points to secondary poisoning as the cause of death in this  latest wave of unblemished beautifully feathered corpses.
 Poison is also arguably a possible vector in the disappearance of Pale Male's mate of many years, Lola.

Today I am at a loss as to what more we can do soon enough to help the now living survive.  For assuredly what we have done has not been enough to save those who are gone and my feeling is that only luck has allowed those who still live to continue their lives.

Education is slow.  Poison is fast.

If mature, city-savvy hawks such as Intrepid, and before her, Builder,  Athena, Hawkeye, Ginger Lima, and Lola to name a very few, have not found any clues to warn them away from the rats that killed them, there likely aren't any clues and the death toll will only continue. 

Can we find a strategy that works with the rapidity that poison does?   

Hawkeye of Fordham, mate of Rose and the father of many, many well fledged young died of poison.  Photo Donegal Browne

Photo Donegal Browne

Athena of the Triborough Bridge nest,  a mother for many seasons, died of  rodenticide secondary poisoning leaving a clutch of eggs.  Her mate Atlas attempted to hatch the eggs on his own, but with no one to hunt for him or spell him on the nest so he could leave to hunt and eat,  the eggs were sometimes unattended.  They never hatched.

 FROM NEW YORK MAGAZINE

Yet Another Red-Tailed Hawk Found Dead

• By Noreen Malone

It hasn’t been a good late winter for New York’s red-tailed hawk population. The first big news came when the first lady of New York’s hawks — Pale Male’s latest love interest — was found dead. Shortly thereafter, the body of another unidentified red-tailed hawk was found in Central Park. There was also a young hawk found dead in the park, which was mostly ignored outside of hawk watching circles.  But now, yet another  bird, this one a Riverside Park resident, has bitten the dust, bringing the recent death toll up to four.

 READ MORE

 Intrepid, Riverside Mom hunts.  Before she died, she had outlived a mate and three eyasses who had all died of poison.                                                      Photo Donegal Browne

EDUCATE AND ORGANIZE YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS ABOUT SANITATION, RATS,  SECONDARY POISONING AND WHAT THEY CAN DO TO MAKE THINGS BETTER FOR THE RAPTORS IN THEIR NEIGHBORHOODS.

Thanks to Rachel Shriff for posting flyers about secondary poisoning and the dangers of second generation poisons in her Queens neighborhood.

In memory also of all the hawks unnamed, who have died of secondary poisoning and human negligence. 

Donegal Browne

Red-tail Update: Morningside Park Hawks-Isolde and Norman Plus Can Anyone Identify the Red-tail at the NYBG?

Photo by Nicola Cetorelli
Spurred on by Nara and Nicola, the hawkwatchers with the fire escape on Morningside Drive, the information about the hawks frequenting the Morningside Park/Cathedral territory, has begun rolling in!

(My apologies on the lag in posting. My computer lost its mind for a couple of days. Many thanks to computer whiz Mark Brown for his very skilled help in bringing it back to sanity.)

ISOLDE AND NORMAN! (An anterior view is coming up for those who'd like to check that angle for their personal field marks of Isolde.)
Photo by Nicoli Cetorelli

From Nara , January 13th--
When we got home tonight at 6:15, one of the hawks was back. In fact, the doorman and handyman were outside looking up at it. Actually the handyman says he's seen the hawk(s) regularly since the fall, usually at dusk, sometimes hunting. So much for our powers of observation!

Photo by Nicoli Cetorelli
Who knows how long they've been coming here. I'm certain we would have seen them if they were in front of the window (they're hard to miss...) but tonight's roosting spot is right up against the building, on the railing, rather than on the floor of the fire escape, so you can't really see him/her from inside (there must be radiant heat from the brick building).


Photo by Nicoli Cetorelli
After a while we looked out and the mate was on the far side of the fire escape. Both of them are there now.

And now, without further ado...the photos/films!:

http://picasaweb.google.com/ncetorelli/Pictures#

As you will see, my husband is not quitting his day-job anytime soon to become a. a photographer or b. a cinematographer. But they are so close it's hard not to see them well. Incidentally, these were taken with a zoom so he wasn't quite in their faces as much as it seems. I imagine, however, that it isn't a great idea to take lots more photos as it could disturb them (that said, these were all taken Sunday and they obviously weren't too fazed as they've been back at least two nights since then.)

Nara


As several people were interested in scrutinizing an anterior shot, I lightened the above photograph slightly so though not as accurate as to time of day, the details are a little easier to see on a monitor. My apologies to the photographer.

In this photo you can see Isolde's trademark almond shaped "sad eyes" and part of her belly band.

Also local neighborhood hawkwatcher Winkie, who's reports many will remember from past seasons, has a wonderfully detailed update--

Hi Donna,

Greetings from Winkie. It has been a long time without much to report. Nara's sighting is welcome news, but not a total surprise to me as the last few weeks in particular activity has picked up. Let us all hope that this is good news for this year's cathedral pair's nesting.

I have seen Isolde several times lately in her early seasonal, territorial rounds. This season she is keeping much of the same routine that she had with Tristan. This area seems to be much the same: South to Central Park, West to Columbia, East seems to go vastly beyond the old Morningside park's edge and North to 125th Street. Because I have little time outside at this time of year, I have not seen Norman. But from what my husband tells me I think Norman is about. Although I have faith in sightings seen by my husband; alas, he cannot tell one hawk from another.

Shortly before Christmas, I started seeing Isolde around the edges of the park (Morningside, of course) and flying around the south end of Columbia's campus. Over the holiday, I saw from my apartment windows a territory war over the campus. It was early mid day on December 26, there was a hawk flying low over the buildings. Out of the direction of Riverside Church came a peregrine. There was no contact, but many fierce threats and lots of aerial acrobatics. The hawk took it's time to find the wind currents, totally not bothered by the peregrine. The hawk circling low and slow, more circling until the peregrine backed off. By the time the raptors were dots, the peregrine was still following the hawk, just to make sure the lesson was learned. At the time I guessed this was Isolde (not able to get a positive), but maybe it was Norman or a new juvie in the neighborhood. James [http://yojimbot.blogspot.com/ ] does report one in the MS park and Rob [http://bloomingdalevilliage.blogspot.com/ D.B.] sites one in the north end of Central Park.

Interestingly, I have not seen as much peregrine activity around Amsterdam and MS park as I did last year. Maybe this year our cathedral pair are more strongly established than last year.

Work on the cathedral and on the new apartment high rise is finished and so are the additions to the park.

The bad news is that the city is supposedly installing new lighting around the perimeter of the park and throughout the Morningside Heights neighborhood. Ever more work to make the area more inviting to people and less to hawks.

Over the holidays and last couple of weeks my husband has had many hawk sightings. The hawk appears to be doing the usual cathedral activities, but my husband has only ever reported one hawk - not two.

Last Saturday, we saw Isolde soon before roosting. This is my positive on her: it was not Norman. She was in the north end of the park on one of her favorite trees. As in the years past, she likes this territory during the cold months.

Now for the sighting from Nara, the cathedral hawks have used the fire escapes along Morningside Drive previously.

First, Isolde and Tristan and then Norman and Isolde have hunted and rested there. Usually, Tristan would stay south of 116th Street, only meeting Isolde in the north end at dusk. Then they would fly south together, finding other roosts.

Without Tristan, Isolde has liked to roost in the the same trees at the north end of the park. Most of the time Norman would fly though and on to another roost. Norman has in the past been more favorable to spending time in the north end of the park than Tristan was. He has frequently gone to roost on the fire escapes. Sometimes he moves on to wherever Norman goes. He has always lived up to his name of Stormin' Norman, but he does seem to prefer the northern range of his territory.

There is still the boundary divide of territory somewhere around 125th Street. Over the first of the new year, my husband and I took several walks in and around St. Nick's park. It is more like Morningside used to be. There are two hawks in this territory, possibly the same CCNY pair as before, definitely not Isolde and Norman.

I don't know of anyone who had followed this pair closely. Do you have any information about their nesting last season? We saw no activity on the CCNY campus building that had been previously used.

(Winkie I don't have any further information on the CCNY pair, but I'm hoping your question will spur whoever might have some to send it our way. D.B.)

Hopefully, this will be a good year for our NYC red tail hawks. I am, of course, rooting for our locals - the cathedral and the Riverside pairs. It would be wonderful for Lola and Pale Male to have success this year. In Manhattan, however, there is still opportunity for some of the young red tails to find success.

Regards,
Winkie

Chief hawkwatcher 0f Charlotte and Pale Male Jr., Brett Odom, reports he has a friend, also with a fire escape/balcony uptown in which hawks, likely Isolde and Norman, have been frequenting. He's asked his friend for further information and it should be coming our way soon.

Photo by Pat Gonzalez

Pat Gonzalez, who contributes lovely wildlife photos from the New York Botanic Gardens among other places, has a question---


Friends:

Attached is a cropped image of the red-tail that flew over the twin-lakes at the NYBG earlier today, January 13, 2009.

Any ideas as to who our friend is?

Pat

Last season bonded Red-tailed Hawks, Rose and Hawkeye (since died, 7/30/09, likely of secondary rat poisoning) formally of Fordham, nested in the NYBG. There is interest regarding Rose and the likelihood of who her new mate might be plus where she and said new consort might nest.
Does anyone have any news?


Donegal Browne