Pale Male's New Mate and the Mystery Hawks at 85th and Central Park West on August 14th.

Courtesy of palemale.com

Pale Male's new mate.  She is his 8th. They may be very tough to tell apart at times.

 Lola his mate of longest duration was 5th.  She and those following her,  either are known to have died of secondary rat poisoning or are suspected of dying of it.

Does Pale Male really know something the others don't that allows him to avoid secondary rat poisoning?  Or has he just been extraordinarily lucky?

 Photo courtesy of palemale.com

This photograph is a prime example of the difference in the profile between the male hawk, left, Pale Male and the female, right, who is yet to be named.

Look at the difference between the eye to tip of beak ratio, length and angle combined with the shape of the brow.

Both hawks are in molt, hence the somewhat disheveled look of their feathers. Note in the top photograph the tail feather which is only half grown in on the female's tail.

Interestingly the late hawkwatcher Jeff Johnson, on August 14th, saw a  female Red-tailed Hawk that he believed to be Zena.  This bird attracted Jeff's attention initially because she was having a difficult time flying, missed her perch, and fell to another limb.  

Whether this was Zena or not, it appears from my take that this bird was ill or poisoned.  A healthy Red-tail doesn't flop about in the manner Jeff described.

Another oddity was that, if the female was Zena,  she was seen near a Red-tail who was not Pale Male, below.
(Both had red tails.) 

The two hawks near 85th and Central Park West.




WINORR- A link from the Horvath's Facebook Page concerning the two previously poisoned Fifth Avenue  fledglings.
http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20120813/upper-west-side-morningside-heights/pale-males-baby-hawks-cant-come-home-until-rat-poison-removed#.UDcKF5gUgUc.facebook

Donegal Browne