Octavia Sits the Nest. The Plaza Pair Copulate. Plus Four Winged Birds.

A heads up from Sally of Kentucky, concerning two pictures, featured on palemale.com  

 Pale Male and Octavia in similar flight positions.
This is Pale Male.  And the quick field mark for that identification if you are watching the Fifth Avenue nest?  Pale Male has a distinct sub-terminal band on his tail.
 
And Octavia's sub-terminal tail band is nearly nonexistent.

Plus yet another fascinating tidbit from Robin of Illinois-Early birds had four wings?

http://news.yahoo.com/early-birds-sported-4-wings-182629014.html

"More than 100 million years ago, birds living in what is now China sported wings on their legs, a new study of fossils suggests.  Researchers found evidence of large leg feathers in 11 bird specimens from China's Shandong Tianyu Museum of Nature. The feathers suggest that early birds had four wings, which may have played a role in the evolution of flight, scientists report in a study published today (March 14) in the journal Science."

And a Clarifying Update on the Downtown Plaza Pair from Budding NYC Hawkwatcher Al Olsen in Case You Were Still Confused-

Talked to two hawk watchers who  thought that Mr. Plaza didn't have a mate. I told them about Stella and Katherine's observations when they saw O [Octavia, D.B.] and Pale Male uptown copulating and the Plaza pair copulating down south at nearly current time.  Seems someone is telling  them that isn't true.  It is. I was in park that day.

  I have been trying to track the southern hawks for  days now, more or less successfully. Have seen both hawks and copulation. 

Yesterday, I located the male on the Essex sign.   He flew west just as another hawk (his mate) flew off Crown building.  Crown hawk landed in big London Plane tree in the edge of Park by the wall and leaned forward in "the position". It was Plaza female. I'd lost Mr. Plaza but after five minutes or so he flew in and copulated with Mrs. Plaza.  They sat together for about six minutes and she flew back in direction of Crown. 

It can't be Octavia because she is sitting on the nest at Fifth Avenue and is said to have laid an egg or eggs besides the reliable observations of Stella, Katherine, and others.

Al

Many thanks for the clarifying observations Al, and keep those updates coming! 

Happy Hawking!

Donegal Browne 

IS OCTAVIA SETTLING INTO THE FIFTH AVENUE NEST AND CATS CAN BE JERKS

 
 Photo courtesy of http://wwwpalemale.com/
Pale Male with a meal for Octavia 

Long time Hawkwatcher Katherine Herzog, the uptown Fifth Avenue half of our recent spotting team in Central Park, shares her observations from the Hawk Bench for March 6th

 Hi Donna,

2:20pm - Spent only an hour at the Fifth Avenue nest but when I got to the boat pond (meeting up with other hawk watchers)....Octavia and Pale Male were both on the nest. Pale came and went several times but Octavia sat on the nest and then settled down into the deepest part of the nest disappearing completely from time to time and then poking her head up.  Then Pale Male flew back to the nest and he "tried out" the deepest part of the nest, sinking down until he disappeared completely as Octavia watched from the rim of the nest.

Total time I observed Octavia continuously on the nest was 45-minutes, but she was already on the nest when I got to the park.

Pale Male flew off north and though I didn't observe any feeding on the nest - when Octavia finally flew off south we noticed a very full crop.  We left at 3:30pm after being slammed by extremely strong winds.  And remember - this was just my hour's worth of observation!

Lincoln's picture posted on www.palemale.com of Pale bringing more food to the nest late in the afternoon was great to see.  This is the most quality time I've seen them spend at the nest thus far and that's just (from my part) only occasional and intermittent observations.

Katherine
 

 Many thanks for being our eyes in the field,  Katherine!

And for something completely different, in from Robin of Illinois, check out CATS CAN BE JERKS
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/07/cats-can-be-jerks-compilation-video_n_2828781.html?utm_hp_ref=good-news&ir=Good%20News

Donegal Browne
Happy Hawking!

Stella Hamilton and Katherine Hezog Take Up the Challenge, FLASH-Nest Building on The Crown Building, and Octavia Flies Downtown and Uptown!

Octavia on February 24, 2013, courtesy of palemale.com

Note the terminal black band of a mature Red-tailed Hawk  from this view is very scant to invisible on Octavia.  According to hawkwatcher Stella Hamilton she is pretty much without one.  Octavia is often identified by the black spot on her second tail feather from the right, barring the coincidence of another hawk frequenting Central Park with the same spot in which case we'd all have blown it.

Yesterday I'd emailed Stella suggesting that it could be very enlightening if  she and another hawkwatcher, possibly Katherine Herzog split their  hawk watching area for today into  two sections, one each.  One person should take the uptown, 927 Fifth Avenue beat, and the other, the downtown Plaza area. 

All times Eastern

3:19 PM  Stella calls from her downtown view near the Plaza.  FLASH!  There are a pair of Red-tail Hawks taking twigs in and out from behind a decorative structure on The Crown Building which is a block from The Plaza.  This is a new location altogether for nest building.


3:45PM Kat reports Pale Male and Octavia are hanging out at the Fifth Avenue nest just like a well bonded pair would at this time of year.  She then reports a single Red-tail flies downtown on Fifth Avenue.

3:48PM Stella reports the appearance of Octavia downtown and the appearance of  a male RTH who seems slightly darker than Pale Male with less of an obvious difference between head and back coloration than Pale Male has.  This male does have the black band on his tail as does Pale Male, while Octavia's tail band is sketchy.


4:23PM Stella has lost sight of Octavia, but another hawk with a visible black band on the red tail, has flown to a perch on The Plaza near the flagpole. 

4:34PM Stella reports a hawk coming down Fifth Avenue to The Pond area.   Stella calls Kat to see if  perhaps Octavia or Pale Male may have just flown down Fifth, the Hawk Bench is empty and Kat  is on her way home. DRAT!  Red-tail who had perched there earlier is still on The Plaza appearing to hunt.

4:38PM Stella takes two pictures of The Crown Building.

Photo courtesy of Stella Hamilton

 The facade in which earlier Stella observed a pair of Red-tails taking twigs in and out from behind this architectural element.

 5:15PM  If a Red-tail pair chooses this site, it will be extremely tough to view from the ground.  Though the round window center frame would possibly be a marvelous spot if a hawkwatcher could get themselves up there.

 5:46PM  From Stella--"This is the downtown Plaza male. He sat there on top of a tree at the entrance of Central Park Zoo trying to hunt... "

5:47PM

 5:49PM  Note the black tail band, which Pale Male also has.

From Stella,  " [Downtown Male]... then decided to fly toward the Plaza hotel where he sat on the roof below the western flagpole. He sat there for 2 minutes then decided to fly westward toward the Time Warner building. I had no more visual of the female or any other hawk at that time. It was getting dark."

Many thanks to Stella Hamilton and Katherine Herzog!

Stella says she will be back in the field tomorrow!

"Curiouser and  curiouser", said Alice...

Happy Hawking
Donegal Browne  

Is Octavia Practicing Polyandry? This Weekend is the Time to Find Out!

 Octavia, left and Pale Male, full face, right 
 courtesy of http://www.palemale.com/

 Relevant musings concerning just who is copulating with whom in Central Park, just in from long time NYC hawkwatcher Katherine Herzog, who, by the way, has a very conveniently  located dentist for a hawkwatcher--

 The only good aspect to visiting my dentist is that he has a prime location for viewing The Hallet Nature sanctuary, corner of 59th and Fifth Avenue from the 14th Floor. Last week while waiting, a mature Red-Tailed Hawk carrying nesting material appeared flying close to the large picture window....my immediate thought was....could that be Pale Male and why is he so far south of his territory? Couldn't give a definite ID as it was raining and the color on the hawk was a bit darker than Pale's.

Then I saw the picture on the internet which has caused so much head-scratching: a bird looking very, very much like Octavia was seen with this "Plaza hawk".
Red-tailed hawks are supposed to be monogamous - but there are other observed hawks, like the Harris Hawk in the SW USA that are
polyandrous (one female copulates with more than one male). Could this be a case of polyandry? Maybe Octavia taking out a little insurance with a younger, stronger male but sticking with the more mature, more experienced mate with a fabulous nest? Was the "Plaza male" possibly Pale?

Yesterday, Pale Male seemed to be bringing prepared food for Octavia and they were flying around the nest the entire hour (4 - 5pm) that I was there...looking ever like the happy couple. Very interesting start to the nesting season.

Katherine Herzog

Great to hear from you Kat, thank you for your astute musings-and yes it is an interesting start to the Fifth Avenue season.

Could this be a case of polyandry?  

Of course it could as you know.  Just because it isn't in the Red-tail literature doesn't mean it doesn't happen.  We've observed many examples of Red-tail behavior that hadn't been recorded in print until the hawkwatchers of Central Park observed it.

I remember when I first began watching there was no documentation even that Red-tailed Hawks drank water in the wild.

Also a point Ohio Red-tail expert John Blakeman made regarding observation of  polyandry in Red-tails generally and in this possible example in particular, very few Red-tails are banded so it is very difficult even with all the lenses in Central Park focused on these famous hawks it is still nearly impossible to prove who is who categorically.  

Therefore polyandry may occasionally occur and no one has suspected it,  let alone proved it.  Right?

If Octavia is actually copulating with two males, you could be right that it's insurance, but I don't know a way to prove it.

Maybe she's a "party girl".  (The phrase is a joke but you know what I mean.) There is aberration of known behavior in many species when you begin looking at specific individuals.  And Red-tails do have very adaptive individualistic behavior in many areas of their lives why not this one in this area?

But...

 I've held the theory for some time that the reason for sexual dimorphism in raptors, the female being larger than the male, is because it is the females who fight each other for the male as opposed to what we much more often see, the males fighting over the females in which case the males are larger.

This could also explain something I've been hard pressed to figure out if there is polyandry going on in this case.  But perhaps if we add my theory and put into play my theory of reverse sexual dimorphism and its explanation perhaps there is an answer.

My question.

If Octavia is copulating with the Plaza Male, and it isn't Pale Male down south, why isn't he bombing down there and cleaning the Plaza Male's clock?

Author of Red-tails in Love, Marie Winn, pointed out to me while I was very green, that pairs are in constant visual contact with each other at this time of year.  And from my own experience I would say that to be true as well.

This is where my reverse sexual dimorphism/females fight females for males, and not the other way around, comes into play.

Also I believe there was a young female Red-tail in the area that Octavia trounced.  She therefore won her right to both males and now she gets to choose.

Positing that Octavia is actually practicing polyandry, Pale Male sees what she is doing-- but remember females fight females for males, he doesn't start any fisticuffs, he just finds more ways to persuade her to choose him instead of the other guy.  More of her favorite foods as gifts.  More renovations on the nest and reminding her of the great location.  More keeping her company, copulating, and doing whatever else may win him the damsel. 

Here is my suggestion for you and Stella Hamilton, (or the more eyes the merrier in both spots), this weekend.  Have your cell phones charged. 

One of you goes down to the Plaza and watches and the other hangs near the Fifth Avenue nest and watches.  The minute one of you sees Octavia and a male you call the other.  If say you see Pale Male uptown and Stella sees Octavia and a male downtown or vice versa, we'll know that polyandry is in progress.  

We'll know categorically that the Plaza Male is not Pale Male. Also that the downtown nest is not Pale Male and Octavia's second choice nest of this season and yes, oh ho, there are two males in play for one female.

I can't wait to see what happens next!

Happy Hawking!

Donegal Browne.