Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Hawkeye and Rose at Fordham--A Hatch? (Pale Male and Lola later this evening.)


All Photographs by Christopher Lyons
There were two updates from Chris Lyons, major Fordham nest observer, today. Here is the first.

2:25PM

I'm pretty sure I saw Rose feeding young this afternoon. It didn't last long, and even from Dealy, using the scope, I couldn't see any eyasses. She stuck her head way down in the nest, with her tail sticking up, and she did those bobbing motions I've seen before when an adult is feeding young. I didn't see anything like that yesterday. No sign of Hawkeye, who was sitting on the nest at the same time yesterday--his hunting instincts would go into overdrive the moment he saw eyasses.


So the first egg probably hatched out in the last 24 hours or so. Probably. I'll try to confirm it sometime this week. I'd have to be looking directly down into the nest to be 100% sure.
Chris

Head in bowl, tail up, with bobbing motions.


And the second update from Chris

Pictures from today--taken from the ground below Collins, around 5pm. Rose did a bit of what looked like feeding, but of course I still couldn't see any young, nor did I expect to. She also did a lot of preening, and what looked like trying to shade the nest with her wings.The fact that I saw so much of her is a good sign--normally, when viewing the nest from below, it's hard to even be sure she's in there, when she's incubating. I think she's just about done incubating.


And for those who have asked what mantling looks like, here is an example. Rose has spread her wing and keeps it stationary in order to shade the contents of the nest bowl from the sun.

(Today's Pale Male and Lola report will appear later this evening after I've had a chance to bring up the photos.)

Donegal Browne













2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is there any sign of a hatch for Pale Male and Lola or is the window of opportunity closing for the season? Does anyone actually know when Lola may have laid her first eggs in the nest? With the spikes cut out of the nest there should have been no reason for there to have been man made reason for the eggs to not hatch.. still hoping hard for a hatch.

Donegal Browne said...

Currently there is no definitive sign of a hatch. We haven't seen the parents making feeding motions, nor have we seen little white fluffy heads peeping over the rim of the nest. The later being the only conclusive proof, to actually see eyasses.

No, we don't actually know when the eggs were laid, that is a big part of the yearly mystery as to when the pair's eggs are due to hatch. Exactly the reason the watch goes on for so long at The Bench each season.

The spikes were not the only possible variable that might prevent a hatch. That fix was chosen as the variable to fix due to deduction, the available knowledge, and limited resources. There were many possible manmade variables examined due to the new platform. And that set of variables would be only those related to the installation of the new platform.

There have been questions about all sorts of other possible environmental factors, about stress, subtle toxins, and health of the adults to name a few. Variables all.