Do the Ms Have a Hatch? Pale Male Jr. and Charlotte Update and What Happens to Abandoned Eggs

WHAT IS UP WITH MRS. M?

Something is, because she never ever turns her back on me. Therefore there is something out there more important or threatening than myself.

She looks up. I look up but as her eyes are much better than mine, I see nothing and she very much looks like she is seeing something.

It's about 70 degrees, but much warmer if the sun is beating down on you. Look closely and you'll see her beak is separated slightly for a bit of a pant.

There she goes turning her back on me again.

Check me to the left.

Check me to the right.

Another check...

And she stands.

She preens her brood patch.

Her upper breast and then back into the nest.

She twists round a bit.

Gives me one of her "Don't try it Missy!" looks.

Then looks north and east.

The gleaming eye glare.

Right.

Left.

And suddenly, as if she can't wait another second, up she comes for a mighty stretch.

Full body glare.

She looks into the far side of the bowl.

Then directly below.

What's this?

Has there been a hatch? Is an eyass pipping?

Then towards the treeline. Should Dad be arriving?

???

And a deep and satisfying preen to the chest. At which point the intense sunlight after a very long and dim winter begins to get very uncomfortable and I can see my skin starting to turn bright red.

Time to go home, though there has been progress. Actually each time she got out of the nest I had retreated to the inside of the car. I'd get back out and she'd get back down. Until the end when either tired of the drill or she was in the midst of an irresistible urge to preen, she remained standing. I hopped into the car and left to reinforce the behavior.

WHAT'S THE SCOOP ON PALE MALE JR. AND CHARLOTTE'S NEST?

I ASKED HAWKWATCHER BRETT ODOM IF THERE WAS MORE THAN ONE EGG AS THAT'S ALL WE'D SEEN SO FAR---

Hey Donna.

There is definitely only one egg this year. Charlotte left the nest unattended yesterday for a few minutes and with yesterday being such a beautiful day here I could see clearly inside that there is only one egg. I'm going to try to come in over the weekend both days to see if the egg gets replaced with an eyass.

Brett B. Odom

THANKS BRETT.

AND WHAT HAVE THE FOLKS FROM THE TULSA HAWK NEST FORUM BEEN DOING SINCE KAY AND JAY ABANDONED THEIR NEST?

FROM SALLY OF KENTUCKY--

Dear Donna,

Well, I watch the nest cam whenever it is on the nest, which is much less frequently, and Kay and Jay have been spotted visiting the nest and on the tower itself by viewers on the ground. Yesterday the cam operator caught Kay on the nest and then followed her on her soaring flight across the neighborhood and over the river which was awesome.

I have attached caps from what I am watching:

--Portland fire escape RTH nest has hatched #1 of 3, and I think I saw a crack in a second egg;

--Sutton Center Eaglet "JJ" growing up fast; "Ethyl" is still brooding and turning the remaining unhatched egg, obviously has no clue it won't hatch.


--Norfolk eaglet trio being fed this morning by BOTH parents-quite a task to feed those 3 hungry mouths, and I am happy that the littlest one is nearly the same size as its siblings.

PLUS SALLY SAW WHAT WE'VE BEEN WATCHING FOR ON FIFTH AVENUE EACH YEAR AFTER PALE MALE AND LOLA HAVE RETREATED FROM THE NEST TO NO AVAIL WHY TO NO AVAIL? IT DOESN'T SEEM TO HAPPEN AT THE FIFTH AVENUE NEST IF THE EGGS OF THE 2008 SEASON WERE TYPICAL. . WHEN I LOOKED DOWN TO PHOTOGRAPH THE NEST FROM THE ROOF AFTER AN ENTIRE WINTER, THE EGGS STILL LOOKED PERFECT.

MORE FROM SALLY--

--And a visitor to Kay and Jay's nest-we've seen the starlings removing hunks of bark and grasses from the bowl, and one also punched a hole in one egg and appeared to be drinking from it a few days ago. Whatever happened after that we don't know, but the egg was missing from the nest the following morning.

Sally

DONEGAL BROWNE