FLASH! Isolde of the Cathedral Nest Has Slipped Silently Away

 This evening I read with deep and dreadful sadness that one of the Grande Dames of New York City Urban Hawks, the  long time formel of the nest behind St. Andrew's elbow at the The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, former mate of Tristan and  until recently the mate of Storm'n Norman had slipped silently away in death without it being noticed.

http://morningsidehawks.blogspot.com/

We watched Isolde for nigh on a decade and in that time she and her mates raised over two dozen eyasses.

   Photo Donegal Browne                        Tristan and Isolde 2006

Yes, Isolde was a big beautiful indomitable Red-tailed Hawk.

I would like to know when she disappeared so I will be comparing my photographs of her with the more current ones of the pair at St. Johns in hopes that I will be able to discover when she left us.   

One of Isolde's distinctive markings was the "drape" of her head color that went down her neck and onto her chest. She also had a "paint drip" belly band and almond shaped eyes.  Though over time her singular eyes became more common in NYC as she passed them down to her offspring.

Stay tuned.

Previous post of today is a Pale Male Fledgling update by longtime NYC hawkwatcher  Charmain Deveraux.  Next post up will be contributor Stella Hamiliton's latest update on Pale Male, Octavia, and their fledglings.

Samantha Browne-Walters...Midafternoon at the Cathedral Nest

Photo by Samantha Browne-Walters                                St. Andrew and the empty nest.

Daughter Sam hopped on the subway and arrived up at the Cathedral Nest a little after 3PM.  There wasn't a hawk in sight.  (But this is my favorite view of the nest.)  

She traversed the area, checking all the favorite perches, and no luck.  There wasn't even any begging going on.  Either everyone had eaten recently or more likely Isolde was out of fledgling sight, hunting, and the big three were snatching a wee nap in her absence to be able to beg all the louder when she reappeared.

Photo by Samantha Browne-Walters

With the dearth of hawks, Sam took note of the construction going on at St. Johns.  Back in the day the nest overlooked the physician parking lot for the hospital on the other side of the street.

Photo by Samantha Browne-Walters 

Here's a little peek into the construction site of what will become an apartment building.  It isn't clear just how the structure will affect the nest but several watchers have commented that this will be the last year for this particular nest location.  We shall see.  

                           Never underestimate a Redtail.

Sam continued to scour the area without luck and then hopped back on the subway disappointed.

        http://morningsidehawks.blogspot.com/

Rob Schmunk had better luck in the early evening.  
Click the link above for more!

Stella Hamilton visited Central Park this evening to check on Pale Male and Company but I haven't received her report as yet.  When it comes in you'll be the first to know.

Happy Hawking!
D.B.

Pale Male Isn't the Only Red-tail Dad Who's Slow Off the Nest- Franklin Mom Does a Lola, Riverside Dad Missing

Photograph courtesy of palemale.com
Pale Male vacates the nest bowl while Ginger Lima takes his place entering from the other side of the nest.

Photograph courtesy of http://sunnydixie.blogspot.com/

The Franklin Institute Red-tailed hawks in Philadelphia are the proud parents of 3 eyasses. And Franklin Dad, very much like Pale Male, is very devoted to his offspring and rather likes sitting the nest. Also like Pale Male, when Franklin Mom reappears, Franklin Dad doesn't hop right up. Oh no, in fact he rather, um well, ignores her, dum de dum, as if she weren't standing right over his shoulder staring or walking around on the edge of the nest waiting for him to vacate the premises.

As staring and pacing failed to get a rise out of Dad, Franklin Mom gave him a bit of a gentle headbutt, then paced some more. Dad looked up but still didn't HOP up. So next, I'm told there was a possible poke, while she moved around the edge of the nest. This eventually got him to rise. At which time she inspected the contents of the nest. Evidently finding all to her satisfaction she then settled in on top of the 3 wee white eyasses.

There were occasions when not only did Lola give Pale Male a bump, she followed it up with a beak poke and then, I'm assuming, not seeing enough action, it looked like she may have given Pale a pinch. He did hop right up on whatever the escalated action was, at any rate.

Without question the formel is the boss of the nest and some people believe she is rather the boss of the pair when it comes down to it. That may be part of the reason that the formel is larger than the tiercel is.

As to other Red-tailed Hawk Nests-

Rob Schmunk of http://bloomingdalevillage.blogspot.com/
reports that though it might well be time for a hatch up at the nest behind St. Andrew at The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, no feeding behavior has yet been seen.

And I received an email from Amy Devon, a watcher of the Riverside Nest--possible bad news. No one has reported seeing the male of the pair in several days. The is particularly scary as there are any number of rat bait stations in the area even though watchers have done their best to get them removed, they remain. This was the pair that lost their first clutch of eyasses to poison.

I don't have official word on this but I was told that the nearby restaurant is the entity placing the rat poison. Does anyone know for sure?

There has been some talk of a boycott of the restaurant, with flyers being distributed to explain it's origin but if the restaurant isn't the perpetrator that could be a misplaced action, though poor garbage sanitation by restaurants is regularly the impetuous for rat infestations in NYC Parks.