Andromeda and Atlas, Rose and Vince, Pale Male and Zena's Rikki

Photo by Peter Richter

 This is Andromeda, the mate of Atlas who took over from Athena from she died of poisoning three years ago.  Andromeda is one of New York City's dark beauties.  In the time that  Andromeda has been Atlas' mate, she has produced 7 offspring.

All of Andromeda and Atlas' young have fledged for this season and are leading watchers a merry chase .

Next up word in from Chris Lyons a major watcher of Rose and Vince at the also prolific Fordham nest--

Found all three eyasses perched fairly low, a few hundred feet from the nest, quite close together (though not in the same tree), and all enjoying the shade on this very hot day. 

I don't know the fledge dates for any of them, but at least two were still up on Collins Hall earlier this week.  All seemed healthy, and a good thing they got off the nest ledge, which will probably be hot enough to fry the proverbial egg before long.  No sign of the parents. 
Chalk up another successful nesting season for Rose, whose winning streak is approaching legendary proportions.

Fledge dates are always a problem at Fordham because the fledglings have easy access to trees and rooftops from this nest. They can easily go on and off the nest at will, and they do- repeatedly.  This makes it very tough to tell when you see one go off this nest that it is actually the first time they've taken to their wings. 

Photo courtesy of palemale.com

Pale Male and Zena's Rikki surveys New York City from the roof .   What a brave new world to explore.

And a link from the NYTimes from long time Contributor Betty Jo MacDonald about houses made of whole trees.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/05/garden/05tree.html

 

Happy Hawking 

Donegal Browne