John Blakeman on the Real Scoop Concerning Imprinting in Red-tails, and a Mystery Hummingbird in Wisconsin?

As I mentioned previously, I'd gone to a fund raising event at an all volunteer staffed bird observatory.

As I walked amongst the exhibits and vendors,  I stopped in at the live raptor display area which as usual for this sort of event, has raptors who for whatever reason, a physical problem or because of imprinting issues, are not able to survive in the wild on their own so they are brought by someone who has permits to keep these birds to help educate the public about them.

While I was standing there, a person behind the table told another patron, if I heard it all correctly, that a particular bird had been imprinted on humans who had raised it after finding it under a tree.  The educator went on to say that raptors will imprint on anything they see first,  including an object like a toaster.

WHAT?  Hawks imprint like geese do?  They're precocial?  How did I miss that all this time?  But they don't act like they're precocial.  They don't immediately or at least very soon after hatching trot around following their mother?  But they imprint as if they were precocial.  

A toaster???

This did not sound right at all.  Something is amiss.

Therefore just in case  I had missed something as large as classic precocial imprinting in raptors....  I mean what if an urban eyass hatched, looked up, and saw a human at a window?  Or looked down at the street and saw a human before she saw a parent?  This had never happened so I'm even more suspicious about the comments?  Raptor educators have to train, they have to take exams...

 This could not possibly be true of Red-tails!  Wait!  Perhaps it was just a helper speaking out of turn?  Or perhaps I heard it incorrectly?  Will an owl imprint on a toaster.  If that were true, perhaps that's how "toaster" entered the conversation then?

But when in doubt about Red-tail behavior no matter how sketchy we think what happened was, or how bad our ears might be, we have the wonderful luxury of sending off a missive to our Red-tailed Hawk expert, Mr. John Blakeman in Ohio, which is exactly what I did.  And as usual he sent back an immediate reply, which follows...
  
Donegal,

No, hawks do not imprint in the classic manner of geese or other waterfowl. That textbook behavior isn't how eyasses connect and identify with their parents. If it were, the eyasses would be flying behind the tails of the haggards all summer, in the manner of imprinted ducks swimming  behind the tails of the female parent.
 

Eyasses will, however, become "imprinted" to humans who take a hawk from a nest and then raise it. It's a long story with many details, but in essence the young hawk connects with and identifies the human as its source of food.

 The human can't fly or otherwise allow the progression of summer-learned normal hunting behaviors, so the young hawk becomes permanently mind-scarred, focused solely on the human.

 (An imprinted hawk can never be restored to normal psychology and independent behavior. In my book, I'll tell the story of "Goldie," an imprinted Red-tail I cared for for 13 years.)
 

But no, none of that happens when eyasses naturally connect with their parents in the nest. The imprinting that so occurs is rather weak and quickly terminated when the eyass fledges and has to learn to hunt and kill for itself in a few weeks of summer.

And no, a newly-hatched eyass seeing a big, lumbering human on the other side of a ledge-nest window is not going to "imprint" to that person. It's not whatever the hawk first sees that is moving; it's whatever first and continues to feed the hawk that it connects with.

--John Blakeman

Many thanks John, a splendid clarification as usual.   I thought perhaps I was loosing my mind.  How could I  possibly have missed that somehow Red-tails were precocial at least in imprinting and I never noticed??? 

Speaking of which, while investigating the matter,  I ran across the chart below. It breaks down Precocial and Altricial into finer categories.

As Red-tailed Hawk eyasses are hatched with down and have their eyes open they are considered Semi-altricial 1. 

 While owls are hatched with down but have their eyes closed when hatched, they are considered Semi-altricial 2.

Check out the chart.  I found it fascinating. 

(What is a Megapode?  It is any of 12 species of chickenlike birds (order Galliformes) that bury their eggs to hatch them. Most species use fermenting plants, kind of a compost approach to produce heat for incubation, but some use solar heat and others use the heat produced by volcanoes.)

Characteristics Of Nestlings
(modified from O'Connor, 1984)

TYPE OF DEVELOPMENT	DOWN PRESENT?	EYES OPEN?	MOBILE?.	FEED. SELVES?	PARENTS ABSENT?	EXAMPLES
Precocial 1	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Megapodes
Precocial 2	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes*	No	Ducks, Plovers
Precocial 3	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Quail, Turkey
Precocial 4	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes/No	No	Grebes, Rails
Semi-precocial	Yes	Yes	Yes/No	No	No	Gulls, Terns
Semi-altricial 1	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Herons, Hawks
Semi-altricial 2	Yes	No	No	No	No	Owls
Altricial	No	No	No	No	No	Passerines

... t = Precocial 3 are shown food.
.....*= Precocial 2 follow parents but find own food. 

Many thanks to Stanford for the dandy chart, for more on the topic go to...
http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/Precocial_and_Altricial.html

Then I had another rather mind expanding experience today.  I'd gone out the back door during the gloaming and saw one Hummingbird run another off the feeder.  Not unusual they love going after each other.  But then the winner sat on a small branch of the Magnolia near the feeder and just continued to sit.  Then he went back to the feeder.   Drank.  Then went back to a branch and sat. 

This hummingbird doesn't look like a Ruby-throat to me at all and that is the only species that is found in the Eastern United States normally and...wait just a minute! That hummingbird looks dark purple..

... I went for my camera. Took pictures, in the dusky light. These are going to be BAD.  Went back in, pulled the card, stuck it into the computer and I looked... fully expecting the bird to be a Ruby-throated Hummingbird after all, due to a trick of the light, but.....nope.

Okay, the camera says his back is dark green and his head is black.  Is there some shot which isn't of his back?

He's out of focus but blocks of color are evident.  I wonder if he is still resting, drinking, resting, drinking?  I grab my other camera and go out.

Nooooooo, I forgot to disable the flash on this camera. It isn't really as dark out as it looks, in actuality the same light as above, but the camera just adjusted the aperture as it knew it was going to flash even though I didn't.  

Sorry little guy. Thank goodness he is still going about his business.

 I go back in the house to let him drink, rest, drink, rest, until he goes into torpor.  He has very likely just come on a very long trip.

I grab Peterson's Field Guide to Eastern Birds.  Sure enough he is a vagrant.  He is a Black-chinned Hummingbird and ordinarily he wouldn't be any further east than Texas.

That is a whole lot of extra little hummingbird wing beats.  No wonder he's hungry and tired.  I'm certainly glad the feeder was up.  

Plus my fingers are crossed for him.


Donegal Browne

Pale Male and Beauty, Crow Strangers, Jane's Screech Owls, Milton Red-tailed Hawks, NYBG Great Horned Owls,

Photograph courtesy of palemale.com
Pale Male checks to make sure every twig is in the particular place he wants it and whether any new additions would add to the accommodations.

Bernard Atkins of New Jersey asked if since there were no eggs yet, might there never be eggs this year.

Well, Bernard, the Pales continue to copulate prolifically, with Pale Male bringing many gifts of food to Pale Beauty, but as they started to copulate later than has been the norm at 927 Fifth Avenue for some years, it wouldn't be unusual for egg laying to be later in the season as well. Also keep in mind that as Pale Beauty is a three year old, she may not take to the nest until the last minute. (I find a pigeon egg in my terrace water bowl once or twice a year, left my a young female who wasn't aware she was about to lay it. I've not heard of hawks doing that by the way.) There is a very very slight chance that Pale Beauty isn't completely mature yet, and she may not lay eggs or the eggs might not be fertile this year due to immaturity. (Ever crack open a chicken egg and find virtually no yolk? That egg was laid by a not quite mature hen.) Though I doubt there will be issues as Pale Beauty has her red tail after all. Immature eggs is more common in two-year-old females, though two year-old males seem to have less maturity issues. Fewer things in the system to be immature perhaps?

There is a flurry outside the patio door. It seems that it being Spring that the squirrels are being frisky. And beyond their first favorite Spring thing of chasing each other round and round, their second favorite thing is startling Crows.

Wait! I don't know that crow. In fact I'm not sure that I recognize any of these crows. Besides the resident C Group Crows very rarely visit the feeding area and the second they notice me they're gone. These Crows are more human habituated.

After checking for speeding squirrels this crow leaps off the glider.

And checks out the food situation. Notice he has a bit of a lump under his "chin".


Suddenly the scenerio begins to look a little like the movie High Noon.

Lump Throat gives me the eye and then circles round. Just in time...

...for their "skirts" to be lifted as a squirrel blasts by.

They both look at me. Hey, I didn't do it.

Back to the Gunfight At The OK Corral.

They stare.

Whoa! There goes another squirrel who screeches to a stop by the pole of the sunflower seed feeder.

Just in time for the second to startle the crows yet again. The squirrels may be chasing each other but they do make a jump at the crows along the way if they're close enough.

Squirrel duo chases around the pole and the crows give it up and head for a squirrel-less area.

The day was very overcast when I was driving down the street to the library when what should I see but two Red-tails courting above the car. I pulled over.




This one is particularly contrasting but can anyone tell what position this hawk is in? A backwards roll? The two Red-tails circled out of sight into a copse of pines.

Photo by Peter Richter http://queensraptors.blogspot.com/

Flushing Meadow Park Update 2-14-11

(Also known as the Unisphere nest.)

After Monday's hawk release I paid a quick visit to the Flushing Meadow Park nest in the evening to find that Bobby and Cathy are in full swing, and have decided to use their nesting spot from 3 years ago above Indonesia on the Unisphere. I also managed to get a picture of Cathy sleeping on the inside of the Unisphere, a common occurrence for her.

Hawks, Bobby and Cathy, were named by Peter for wonderful wildlife rehabbers Bobby and Cathy Horvath.

Photo by Peter Richter

A note on the Unisphere hawks from Jeff Kollbrunner of jknaturegallery

Donna,

We were at Flushing Meadow Park on Sunday 3/13 and decided to swing by the Unisphere Red-tailed hawk nest. It appears that they are also sitting in their nest now as well, maybe Peter has a more accurate time when they started to overnight. The entire time we were present one of the pair was sitting in the nest during late afternoon to early evening. At one point repositioning itself before settling back down in the nest bowl. I will send you an image.

Best, Jeff

Soon all our urban hawks will be sitting those nests and hatching will be here in no time!

Photo by Pat Gonzalez

It looks like the Great Horned Owls in the NYBG have done it again! From Pat Gonzalez--

Friends:

I’m not 100 percent on this, but I believe that there is at least one great-horned chick in the owl tree. I had mentioned before that the forest edge trail, which gave the best view of the inside of the tree is closed. There are issues with the amount of damage done to the area near the tree by folks stomping all over the plantings and soil. So I began to look for gaps in the trees along Azalea Way, the road in front of the tree as well as waaaaaaaaaaaay on the other side, inside the Native Forest from the Sweetgum trail. It was from this trail earlier today, that I shot the attached photo. I noticed that the female owl inside the tree kept bending over, looking at something in the tree. Notice in the image how she is bent? Now, look further down from her head. Notice something white? And do you see the eye open? I don’t want to give out cigars just yet, so if anyone wants to give their opinion. I’ve uploaded a short video that I made from the spot where I saw the tree. I used landmarks to make it easier to find. Look at the NYBG map for the Sweet gum Trail which you can enter from Azalea Way right before you get to the Stone Mill Road. If anyone has any more questions please e-mail me.

http://youtu.be/wWScMGPVKb8

For the wildlife photographers on this list, you’ll need your telephoto lenses/teleconverters/digiscope equipment, etc. to get that clear shot because it is quite far away.

Pat Gonzalez

A lovely photo of Olivia the female Screech Owl from Jane of Georgia, plus an update below.
Hi Donna –

Like mad dogs and Englishmen, here’s Olivia out in the mid-day sun today!

Lots of nesting going on here in my back yard – a chickadee and a titmouse have each decided on a seasonal rental and a bluebird is checking out a nice studio apartment, as well.

Tulip magnolia and both cherry trees are in full blossom. Dogwoods and azaleas will open this week.

All is right with the world!

Jane

Jane, not only do I envy having your owls but the understory in the Southern states in Spring is downright breathtaking.
And more from Pat Gonzalez,

Friends:

I passed on my owl photo to Robert DeCandido who confirmed that yes, threre are at least TWO great-horned owl chicks in that tree. He spotted them there this past Saturday the 19th. I'm so happy right now because the nest last year failed. The last time there was an extended family was back in 2009.

I've attached a box of cigars, please share them with anyone who loves owls. : )

Pat Gonzalez

I haven't forgotten about Part 1a of Eagles Nest. It will go up along with some great pix from pro photographer Francois Portmann!

Donegal Browne

NOVA SCIENCE NOW-Pepperberg and Alex plus the Great Horned Owl Cam

Dr. Irene Pepperberg, the Homo sapien and the late Alex, the Psittacus erithacus erithacus

They not only proved that they broke the species to species verbal language barrier by speaking in English to each other, but to parse it even finer they broke the language barrier of an avian creature and a mammalian one communicating in a common language. Note Alex was the one with the physical equipment and the smarts to do it in the mammal's language.

Though to give Dr. Pepperberg credit, she couldn't have learned African Grey Parrot language from Alex as likely Alex didn't know it yet. He came to the lab very young. And just like human babies learn their language from those around them, young Grey's learn language from their parents and their flocks. It's thought that each flock might well have it's own dialect.

A hand raised Macaw in one cage and a hand raised Grey in another have been known to verbally compare what they were given for dinner in the language of their owner.

Alex was 31 when he died. If he had had his complete life expectancy there is no doubt in my mind that he would have learned to read as he already was grasping phonetics from children's plastic alphabet letters. And in one case when a nut was not forth coming when he wanted one, he sounded it out just in case they weren't getting it.
N-U-T.


Check your PBS stations for a repeat of Nova Science Now featuring the profile of Pepperberg.

Plus here is a nearly 12 minute video with segments of the program-
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/nature/profile-irene-pepperberg.html

In you don't find a re-airing, the full program is often available online once all the local repeats are finished.

My apologies for not giving you a heads up earlier. I was painting the basement and washing the kitchen ceiling the last few days and accidentally stumbled on the program this evening...too late to let you know.


And for those of you who can't get enough of Great Horned Owls, Cornell's owl-cam link from Robin of Illinois--

http://watch.birds.cornell.edu/nestcams/camera/view?cameraID=C100231

John Blakeman on the Vision of Hawks, Rural Red-tail, and the Great Horned Owl in NYBG

While driving down the road with a friend, we saw this hawk flapping across a field, she very kindly perched for us.

Before the snow started again today, there was a small thaw which brought the snow depth down yesterday. Late afternoon there was an influx of birds going north, the vanguard of Starlings, much honking and three Canada Geese sighted and where ever the hawks were they have begun once again.


She scanned the area intently. We later saw what might have been a Merlin or a Peregrine as we started to roll again in the direction in which she seemed to be scanning the most intently.

She then took off, using the available cover, which Hawks everywhere appear to do, whether the cover is trees, or cliffs, or buildings.

Flapping at speed.

Navigating the branches.

A glide.

And then she disappeared into thicker woods.

Yesterday I talked about where Mrs. M appeared to be looking, but according to Red-tail expert John Blakeman things aren't nearly that simple--

Donna,

One can’t be always so sure of just where a perched (or even flying) red-tail is peering. Direction of the head does not always reveal this.

This is because the retinas of hawks have two foveas, two centers of concentrated cones that can detect great visual resolution. Mammals have only one, in the center of the eye. That’s why we see so clearly (except with macular degeneration) in the center of our visual field, with things in the periphery a bit less detailed.

For red-tails, they can pear straight ahead, concentrating their focus on the high resolution vision centers at the back of the retina. But also, they can peer with great resolution pretty much straight out to the side, focusing matters of interest on the second retinal vision center.

Merely peering at a hawk on utility pole seldom reveals what she’s (yes, “she,” even though it might be an unknown “he”) looking at, at least when she’s looking at something in the horizontal distance.

Now when she turns her head down and appears to look straight below her, she is indeed looking there, looking straight ahead.

But I feel that the second retinal vision center used when looking sideways is probably even stronger, more detailed than the usual one on the rear of the retina. During migration in the autumn I notice that my falconry red-tail, when sitting on my fist, often turns her head sideways and peers up into clear blue sky with one eye. After a bit of searching, I, too, can often find what she’s looking at. It’s a mere speck of a migrating hawk some one or two thousand feet overhead. My red-tail sees it from afar and tracks it as it passes far overhead.

She prefers to use one eye, with the sideways posture when looking for these distant birds. She usually sees them far before I can. I can only know what part of the sky she’s looking in. Then, after a few minutes, as the hawk passes overhead, I can sometimes discover the mere dot of feathers above. Sometimes, without binoculars I can never see what she has been following so attentively.

So, the nice big haggard you photographed sitting so safely up there on the utility pole, just mere inches away from a lethal 12-hundred volt spike of AC current, could have been looking straight ahead, or just as effectively out to either side. No way of knowing.

A note about the conventional “she” designation for all hawks of unknown sex. This was surely not an imposed convention either of Chaucer, Shakespeare nor of Queen Elizabeth I. As influential as both were, the universal “she”was in general falconry practice for two or three previous centuries. It derives simply from the fact that female hawks, eagles, and falcons are larger and often preferred hunters compared to the smaller tiercels. Female raptors are just plainly superior, in almost every respect, so the “she” attribution was (and is) most appropriate.

--John Blakeman

From the intrepid Pat Gonzalez, our contributor from the New York Botanical Garden--

Donegal:

The native forest, trails and other portions of the NY Botanical Garden are covered in snow. In some sections, nearly two feet. (Friday, February 12).

I noticed that finally, the bird population is returning to normal. I saw lots of chickadees (yay!), cardinals, white throated sparrows, blue jays and others in many different sections of the garden. Lots along the wild wetlands trail which is a good thing as this winter, because of the pruning, it is temporary wasteland. So I was glad to see the old crew back!

Speaking of which, the female great-horned owl was inside an old tree. I usually stand about 12-15 yards away when I take photos, but getting to that spot was something else. I had to drag myself through mounds of snow. But I think it was worth it. Look at those yellow eyes! She is beautiful. I so hope she lays eggs in this tree. She's about 20 feet off the ground and is so well dug in, it is hard for blue jays, crows and other birds to get to her during their occasional dive-bombing.

I had taken a fair amount of photos and video and began to climb down, when two very nice ladies with binoculars introduced themselves to me. They said that they were both Docents at the garden and had enjoyed reading about my adventures and photos on pale male irregulars. Sadly, I forgot their names and had nothing to write with (sorry ladies, I'm AWFUL remembering names). As we started to walk away, a group of crows landing near mama owl. Some began their dive bombing, but couldn't go any where near where she was. I wondered if the male was nearby. The three of us looked but couldn't see anything. After a few minutes, they all took off.

Here's video of the owl from today which I've already posted on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/user/NATURECAMHD#p/u/12/jgGQI2kn7KM

If all goes well, and if it doesn't snow or rain, I'll be back at the Garden next Tuesday.

Thanks Pat!

The Mystery Accipiter Plus A Washington Square Park Red-tail Update

Photo by Karen Anne Kolling

For some time now Karen Kolling, observer of her Gonzo Deck in Rhode Island has been attempting to get a photograph of her yearly hawk visitors--

Hi,

Finally, photos of the hawk (s) that visits my deck once a year or so. In the photos he's perched on a Japanese maple.

No idea what kind of hawk he is? For size, that rod in front of him is about four inches of a window crank and it's about two feet in front of him.

Also, the foxes are back. Two small ones were on the deck early this morning when it was still dark.

Karen

Congratulations on getting the photos! As to what kind of hawk, check out that somewhat hyper-thyroid-ish look to the bird's face. That taken with what I'd take is a long tail, makes me think immature Accipiter.



Here is a crop of the bird's head. It doesn't appear smallish and very round compared to the body, so not a Sharp-shinned Hawk. Though it does have a white brow which a Cooper's immature doesn't have much in the way of--- Hmm. Those two are usually the two Accipiters that we're attempting to tell apart as Goshawks are scarce and getting more scarce all the time. Could this be an immature Northern Goshawk? Is the white brow stripe bold enough? The specific field marks for an immature Goshawk are a bold white brow stripe and irregular banding of the dark tail bands.

Anyone have a good familiarity with Goshawks?

NEXT A NEW YORK CITY RED-TAIL UPDATE

FROM HILARY, Washington Square Park Red-tail Observer

If you go to the park, look up at the hollow steel cross on top of the Judson Memorial Church on the south side of the park. The hawk was there this afternoon (11/21) at approximately 2:00 p.m. And blogger Zach has pictures posted of a hawk in the same location.

http://www.old-nyc.com/2009/04/wsp-hawk-on-judson-memorial.html

I heard what I thought sounded like an American Kestrel and when I looked up, a smaller bird swooped down on the hawk sitting on top of the cross before flying away from the park. However, it happened very quickly, so please take the kestrel ID with the caveats that a) I went to the park not expecting to see raptors! and b) I did not have bins... The RTH was perched the entire time I watched (about 20 minutes), keeping an eye on the very busy park with breaks for preening.

Many thanks Hilary for update!

And I haven't forgotten about talking about Owl feathers....honest.

Donegal Browne

Do Great Horned Owls Really Eat Cats? (Yes but only small ones, so another reason to keep Kitty in the house beyond songbird munching.)

The Great Horned Owl, Bubo virginianus, currently of Central Park, having a last minute nap before fly-0ut.

The other day I wondered if this Great Horned Owl might have a connection with the Great Horns in The New York Botanical Garden. After looking into it I found out that Great Horned Owls don't migrate but rather tend to stay within their limited hunting range of choice year round. I'd just assumed previously that the Great Horned Owl visitors we get in Central Park from time to time were migrating but as they don't migrate (though they will move to the next area of adequate prey in times of a dearth, but that isn't considered true migration) these owls may well be from our area.

Late fall is the time of year when young GHOs leave their parents and strike out on their own so these young owls may be the ones that Central Park hosts.

This non-migratory adaptation is considered rather remarkable as it is so rare in birds occupying GHO habitat types.

Speaking of which, how does one tell the age of a Great Horned Owl. The question came up the other day while watching the owl. The answer- you can't. Once a GHO is wearing adult plumage there is no way to discern its age. Typically the females are larger. An adult GHO is anywhere from 18 to 25 inches. The females weighing in at 3 to 4 and a half pounds, with the males typically 2 to 3 and a half pounds.

I also discovered that 90% of young GHOs that are banded on the nest and then recovered later in life have been found to have moved less then 80 kms from their natal area. So it is possible that the Great Horned Owl currently in Central Park has some relationship to those in the NYBG.

Typical Great Horned Owl prey includes- rodents of various sizes, song birds, geese, adult turkeys, small cats (Kitty should stay in the house anyway.), skunks, beavers, porcupines, beavers, snakes, Grouse, muskrats, eels, squirrels, rabbits and variety of other things that they can manage to nail.

They don't always get off scott free from these encounters with prey but have been found killed or severely injured by porcupines, skunks, snakes and other intended meals.

AND WHAT ABOUT THOSE FILOPLUMES?

TOMORROW FEATHERS!

DONEGAL BROWNE

Saturday Miscellany-Sutton Eagles, NYBG Great Horned Owl, Blackwater Osprey, and Hilary's Canada Goose Nest Problem

PHOTOGRAPH BY PAT GONZALEZ
Pat is referring below to the photographs of the newly fledged Great Horned Owls in the New York Botanical Gardens posted yesterday. This is Mama Owl looking at Pat look at her newly fledged Owlets.--

Pat said, "I meant to include this photo with the others in my last email. This is the momma owl watching me rather intensely as I photographed her offspring. Her ear tufts are rather flat. Is that a bad thing?"

I answered, "Well as she is looking at you look at her babies, it likely isn't a good thing. In fact I suspect that had you gone a few steps closer to her progeny, she might well have gone for you."

And a Great Horned Owl going after you is no joke. When I was in training, I met two ornithologists who had lost eyes to Great Horns while attempting to band the young on the nest. (I don't remember them wearing hard hats way back when. They've wised up since.) I don't want to scare you, particularly as you've done just fine so far and this Great Horned Owl is undoubtedly somewhat habituated to people being closer then would be normal, or she wouldn't be in the Gardens, but I suggest that you wear a hat from now on.


Supposedly, I was told this anyway, in an Owl attack if you are wearing a hat and the owl goes for you, you grab off the hat and pitch it at the owl. The owl will then go for the hat, sink her talons into it, take off with it, and shred the you-know-what out of it... instead of shredding your head. So you loose a hat, no biggie. Better than the alternative.

And like I said this owl is no doubt much more used to people being around than your usual wild owl who nests in the countryside and sees people infrequently therefore don't make yourself crazy over it. Just a suggestion for a rather far fetched possibility.

Great Horned Owl video also from Pat--
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBcVMzOGF5I&feature=channel_page


Screen Capture Courtesy of Jackie Dover, KJRH TV Tulsa, and
http://www.suttoncenter.org/eaglecam.html
A thunderstorm rolls into the Sutton Bald Eagle territory. Wonderful stuff from Jackie Dover of the Tulsa Hawk Nest Forum--


Jackie, Bville of the Tulsa Hawk Forum
Screen Captures courtesy of Jackie Dover, KJRH TV Tulsa, and
http://www.suttoncenter.org/eaglecam.html
These are screen capture sequences featuring the Sutton Avian Research Center's bald eagles at Sooner Lake, near Stillwater, OK. This nest is on an artificial tower built after the original dead tree site fell down. Here's the live cam link, from which folks can also explore the Center's website. http://www.suttoncenter.org/eaglecam.html


This series of captures is from the evening of April 18. Some nasty storm clouds reached the lake around 8 p.m. One eagle parent flew off the nest, the other immediately calling vigorously after it, it seemed.


The first quickly returned. The rain and frequent lightning lasted at least a half hour.

(Did it occur to anyone else that though it was grand that they put up a substitute nest stand for the pair, as they've made it out of metal, they have contrived for the Eagles to nest on top of one giganto lightning rod?)

Screen Captures courtesy of Jackie Dover, KJRH TV Tulsa, and http://www.suttoncenter.org/eaglecam.html
The parents sheltered the eaglet the entire time, huddling together in the same pose. In all these captures, the birds are revealed only by the lightning flashes, in both the wide and close shots. It was quite the display.


Screen Captures courtesy of Jackie Dover, KJRH TV Tulsa, and http://www.suttoncenter.org/eaglecam.html

I will shortly send you another series of captures at the same nest.
Jackie, Bville of the Tulsa Hawk Forum

Now there is parental protection for you. I suspect that the female is closest to the eaglet and dad is slightly sheltering mom while protecting little eaglet from the storm as well. Good luck Eagles!

Screen capture courtesy of Robin of Illinois and

the Blackwater Osprey Cam.

From Blackwater Watcher and long time blog contributor Robin of Illinois--

Posted on the Blackwater cam site: "We have our first egg of 2009! We could see one or two more, normally coming about three days apart."
(Interesting that a Red-tail usually can create an egg every other day while an Osprey takes 3 days.)

**************************************************************************

Next up an email from Hilary Sortor, a New York City college student concerned about a possible disturbance to a Canada Goose couple's nest down near Pier 64 on the Hudson--

Hi Donna,

I hope you are well! I met you last year up at the Fifth Avenue nest and you subsequently helped me learn what to look for when watching the red tails nesting at City College.

I haven't seen much of them this year, sadly, although I had a really good look at one of them eating a pigeon in a pocket park on Broadway a couple of weeks back - drew quite a crowd and was subsequently chased off by the pair of kestrels that live in that area.

I continue to enjoy reading your blog and wish there was more time in the day for birds and other creatures... maybe when school is out.

I'm writing because I thought you might know who to contact about this: Pier 64 has been under construction up until three days ago, and is now open to the public. While it was closed, a pair of Canada geese felt it was sufficiently free of humans (and probably more importantly, dogs) to construct a nest on the lawn at the far end of the pier. I did not realize that's what was going on until I walked out there this evening with my dog and saw the female on the nest and the male standing guard (I moved my dog well away as soon as I saw the female wasn't getting up and the light bulb went off in my brain).

Hudson River Conservancy has roped off the area, but it's not much of a buffer - maybe 20-25 feet. The male was surrounded on three sides by people as he tried to keep an eye on everything - I try not to anthropomorphize, but both geese seemed very worried.

There were a lot of people out there this evening with dogs, etc. getting much too close.I'd seen them out there a couple of days ago, but the male was in the water and there weren't any other people around, so I wasn't sure there was a nest until tonight, or I would have contacted you sooner.

My fear is, that area will be packed over the weekend with the good weather, and I don't know how good that will be for the geese.

What can be done? Who should I contact? People around them tonight seemed pretty oblivious to the situation, or hopefully, they would have backed off. If you have any ideas, please let me know.Thanks for any advice you can give, I appreciate it, and enjoy the weekend!

Best,

Hilary


I forwarded Hilary’s email off to Park Ranger Andrew DiSalvo who has been helpful in the past. Though the pier is not within his current area, I’m hoping he will be able to point Hilary and the Geese to the Ranger or Rangers who may be in the Pier 64 area or as an alternative-- in whatever correct direction will help them.


Donegal Browne