Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Red-tailed Hawks-Thunder's Family, More on Houston Boys at Rehab, and Pale Male Gets a Mention in the Wicked Local Medford Transcript


THUNDER
Photograph by Cheryl Cavert

That certainly isn't one of the goofy faces that we used to see on Thunder's face. She's getting to be quite the grown hawk these days. Though as Tulsa Hawkwatcher Cheryl Cavert reports, it didn't stop her from calling out repeatedly and with vocal vigor to her parents who were two blocks away perched in plain site up on the tower. Besides they had their backs turned.


Photograph by Cheryl Cavert
Just look at that beautiful eye.



Photograph by Cheryl Cavert
That is Dad, Jay, on the left. He really has no belly band at all. There is a bit of color coming out from under his wings on the sides but at least at this distance that's it.


Note the reverse sexual dimorphism, Kay on the right is beefier and longer. Also look at the difference in the shape of their heads. If you keep looking at various hawks for which you know the sex, eventually skull shape will give you a pretty good hunch as to the sex of hawks who's gender you don't know.

And on the right, finally, Kay has reappeared. This is the sighting that was so exciting as no one had seen Kay for nearly two weeks. Once everyone talked to one another and realized no one had seen her, thoughts of what has happened in NYC this year began to creep into their minds. Disappearing never to be seen again Red-tails, adults dying, frounce, lead poisoning, traffic, just plain mystery deaths. It isn't easy being an urban hawkwatcher, for so many reasons and the amount of anxiety involved at certain points isn't the least of it.


Photograph by Cheryl Cavert
Here's Kay, with a better look at her belly band. Her's is very interesting as what she has is dark but it's more belly band polka dots than a belly band consisting of varying vertical streaks of changeable widths consisting of darker pigmented feathers. Given good binoculars and a reasonable view from the front these two shouldn't be too hard to tell apart. (Famous last words...) There have been days when 12 people on the Hawk Bench couldn't come close to agreeing if it was Pale Male or Lola on the nest and the two of them don't really look much alike at all.

Now here is the question, did Kay really go off on vacation? That hardly seems likely with Thunder the age she is. Was Kay feeling under the weather, just going slightly further afield to hunt, or did she just turn super stealthy there for awhile?

I'm betting she isn't going to tell us.


Photograph by Eleanor Tauber

CP wildlife photographer Eleanor Tauber has done it again. Peace. A Cormorant stands reflected in the Upper Lake.

SOUTH AFRICAN FILMMAKER ADAM WELZ MADE ANOTHER VISIT MONDAY TO THE HORVATHS TO CHECK ON THE HOUSTON BOYS.
Adam told me that Hank, (the moniker Cathy Horvath gave to H2), seems completely clear of lesions and is getting better by the minute.
As to our long battling-filled-with grit Houston, or Hous for short, he is alert and the golf ball sized lesion in his mouth and throat is almost gone.
He is still very thin but that's completely understandable after what he's been through. And we all know that Cathy will give him as much to eat as he wants and more.
Hous does have some damage to his upper palate, Remember the yellow caseous lesions are called necrotic foci? Necrotic means dead or dying. Some tissues mend themselves very nicely, the dead portions just slough off with nice healthy tissue growing underneath but sometimes areas are so disrupted or of the kind of tissue that doesn't just heal in the way that soft tissue can, that real damage can occur. If Hous's palate is damaged beyond his body's ability to self-repair, he will most likely have a little surgical mending penciled into his busy social calender once he's stronger. We do want him in good as new shape after all. He'll be much better able to go looking for trouble once he's back on the streets.
AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST A MENTION FOR PALE PALE, PLUS A PAIR OF MEDFORD URBAN HAWKS WHO HAVE BEEN NESTING IN MEDFORD MA FOR SEVEN YEARS.
THEY TOO HAVE DEVELOPED THEIR OWN GROUP OF HAWK WATCHERS. AND THEY TOO ARE HAVING TROUBLE WITH THEIR FLEDGING AREA--TRAIN TRACKS!
Medford Transcript - Medford, MA, USA
As more wild animals are adapting to urban environments, a pair of red-tailed hawks have taken up residence on a Medford rooftop. Nicknamed Rocco and Jolene by the locals who follow their progress, the pair has just finished raising two healthy chicks.

“This has been such a great nest to watch,” said resident John Harrison, a book distributor and wildlife enthusiast. “It can be tough in the woods with all the foliage.”
Harrison pointed out a nest of twigs, which sits beneath an overhanging ventilation duct atop the Workout World at 200 Boston Ave. He has been following Rocco and Jolene since 2001. A nearby set of train tracks, he said, has posed some great difficulties.
Donegal Browne

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