Stella Hamilton Hunts Pale Male and the Fledglings Plus Another Kind of "Hawk"

 

 7:20 PM  Pale Male rakes a fledgling Robin off the ground, flies into a tree... 

...and eats it.

7:23 PM  Fledgling on railing at 78th and Fifth Avenue.  Just a few blocks from the nest.  Pale Male and his mates often perch in that spot.

7:24 PM Fledgling on Cleopatra's needle scaffolding.

7:25 PM  Pale Male eats a Robin.

And an Addendum photo from Stella-

ANOTHER KIND OF "HAWK"

                           11:03 PM  Wasp and Cicada
Stella's account--
 As we were watching Palemale , I heard a cicada screaming in pain (yeah I've heard one before ) . And low and behold , about 10 feet away from me , was a wasp , that had attacked a cicada . The wasp had it on its back and had it pinned down and was pumping either paralyzing venom or its eggs into the belly of the cicada . I wish I had a better picture . This is the best I can do . But it was horrific . After the wasp did what it had to do , it left the cicada , perhaps eggs already implanted in its belly . We the hawk watchers left it under a bench . I will see what happens tomorrow after work . I hope that paralyzed cicada is still there tomorrow . I mean that wasp was dragging it around as it was injecting it with its rear  end . It was very exciting !

                                (Fascinating Cicada Hawks?  So I looked them up. DB)
"Sphecius speciosus, often simply referred to as the cicada killer or the cicada hawk, is a large digger wasp species. Cicada killers are large, solitary wasps in the family Crabronidae. The name may be applied to any species of crabronid which uses cicadas as prey, though in North America it is typically applied to a single species, S. speciosus. However, since there are multiple species of related wasps, it is more appropriate to call it the eastern cicada killer. This species occurs in the eastern and midwest U.S. and southwards into Mexico and Central America. They are so named because they hunt cicadas and provision their nests with them. In North America they are sometimes called sand hornets, although they are not hornets, which belong to the family Vespidae. Cicada killers exert a measure of natural control on cicada populations and thus may directly benefit the deciduous trees upon which their cicada prey feed."
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphecius_speciosus

Happy Hawking of Whatever Kind!
                    D.B.

Stella Hamilton Documents Fledgling Bugsy's Big Moment and Attention Bats-Mayflies Swarm Over the Midwest

 Photo courtesy of www.palemale.com/
                                     Pale Male keeping watch.


 Stella Hamilton actually got photos yesterday of Bugsy's big moment. 

 6:24 PM  I saw Bugsy catch and kill this squirrel

                     6:36 PM  Hawk and yummy squirrel.

 6:40 PM  Bugsy jumped off a low branch like Batman and boom! He killed it instantly.

In other words a perfect kill.  Bugsy is good.


And just in from Robin of Illinois, the mayfly hatch is so huge you can see it on radar!
http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/mayfly-hatch-overwhelms-minnesota-wisconsin/ 

"Mayflies swarm Mississippi river

 

"On the evening of July 20, 2014 mayflies hatched along along the Mississippi river between Minnesota and Wisconsin in such great numbers that they were picked up by radar resembling light rain. the hatch began around 8:35pm. According to the National Weather Service: "this particular emergence was that of the larger black/brown Bilineata species. The radar loop below shows the reflected radar energy (reflectivity) from 8:35 pm to just after midnight. The higher the values (greens to yellows) indicate greater concentrations of flies. Note how the swarm is carried northward over time."

Happy Hawking!
Donegal Browne

The Hamilton Central Park Hawk Report for 7/20 and 7/21 Plus Another Little Brown Bat Saga!

Stella Hamilton report for 7/20/2014   6:07 PM
This is the only picture I have of the hawks from today. Pale Male.  The babies were very quiet . I saw one baby  soaring over the east drive on 79 th street .
 I will try again tomorrow after work. 

And indeed Stella did go out again today and had much better luck.

               Hamilton report for 7/21/2014

7:03 PM  Fledgling on Backstop 6 of the Great Lawn. 

7:21 PM   Play ball! 

TANGENT- There is something about a ball that tends to attract the attention of the young of many species and sometimes the not so young as well.  Robin of Illinois sent in a video of a turtle and a dog playing ball.  And the turtle takes no prisoners...

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=186603724690776&fref=nf

              7:24 PM Back Stop 4
What did I say about balls?  Guess who has the best view of the ball game?  I remember one afternoon in Morningside Park when both of Isolde and Tristan's eyasses sat on the ball field fence side by side and watched the game for awhile.

               7:25PM Play ball.  
              Fixated on the ball yet again.  I love it.

  THE RETURN OF LITTLE BROWN BAT!

  I came around the corner of the house to turn off the outside water spigot and hanging on the wall of the house was Little Brown Bat.  I made a bee line for the house and the camera.
2:11:06 PM  When I got back little bat had gone round the corner to the N wall and was climbing up the wall by way of the wisteria.

 2:11:13 PM  Little Bat leaves the wisteria for the brick.

 2:11:15 PM  He's moving far faster than the last time we saw him.

2:11:16 PM

2:11:18 PM  He's really climbing quite fast now.  But why is he out and so exposed in the daytime in the first place? 

2:11:23 PM  It looks like he's heading for the eaves of the house which makes sense.  There will be shade there most of the day.

2:11:35 PM  Still putting forth a yeoman's effort.

2:12:01 PM  Almost to the eaves!

Blogger doesn't want to take anymore photos on this post so stay tuned for The Mystery Of Little Brown Bat.

 Next post!

Donegal Browne

A Pictorial of Pale Male's Fledglings in Central Park (and a Near Death Experience) from Stella Hamilton

All Pale Male/Octavia Fledgling Photos by Stella Hamilton

Once again long time hawkwatcher and blog contributor Stella Hamilton was out in Central Park checking up on Pale Male, Octavia, and their fledglings.  Many thanks for her photos and commentary.

5:06PM I wasn't sure if it was a hawk or a turkey I was looking at when I found this fledgling she looked so big . This is a baby on the ground eating a pigeon. One other sib on tree in vicinity screaming.

 5:07PM 
Baby with yummy pigeon.  Food fight about to hatch again ?

 5:11PM What can I say, This is a big bird.  
       Fledgling mantles pigeon. 

5:11:30PM What the...?

5:15PM  Fantail Hawk?

5:23PM  Second fledgling (the paler headed one, likely a male) finishes the left over pigeon.

5:29PM Pale Head up a small tree after meal.

5:45PM Out for a stroll amongst picnic-ing patrons of Central Park.  

(And people who have the savvy not to toss any food the little hawks way, thank goodness.  Hawkwatchers are vigilant about this in particular as a young hawk who learns that people are a source of food, is a hawk in trouble. DB)

5:46PM  Are you sleeping?

6:03PM I am FULL!  All pictures taken near Glade Arch.
(Just look at that stretched crop! DB)

6:52PM VERY  DANGEROUS!  Fledgling almost hit by a taxi at Fifth and 77th.
(During the early years, one of Pale Male's fledglings was hit by a cab and killed.  All hawkwatchers could do was retrieve the body.)

7:01PM Safe on the Mongolian Mission Banner!!!!  
Many thanks to Stella Hamilton for her report.

Happy Hawking!
Donegal Browne

The-First-Fledge-Off-The-Thompkins-Square-Park-Nest-Goes-Down-an-Air-Shaft Saga. and Rock and Roll Raptor Loving Ranger Rob Saves the Day

    Photo by Francois Portmann http://www.fotoportmann.com/birds

24 hours before Christo and Dora's first fledge took the big leap.  He's strutting his stuff flap hopping like a maniac.

June 23, 10:49AM  The first fledge of the Thompkins Square Park Nest takes the big step off the nest and glides over to the buildings on 9th Street and out of sight.

Time passes and hawkwatchers wait for a visual sighting, the sound of begging, anything...Nothing.  They begin asking people if they've seen the young hawk.  Also nothing.

More neighborhood folks begin to search as well.  What is going on?

A little after 6PM a relentlessly searching resident of  9th Street discovered that the young hawk was down an air shaft between two buildings.

Trapped Hawk?  Time for Ranger Rob!  

According to his Facebook page, at 6:15 Park Ranger Rob Mastrianni was in Brooklyn giving guitar lessons.  By 6:30 Rob had cancelled his last student and was heading for 9th Street to institute a rescue.

   

                  Photo by Francois Portmann http://www.fotoportmann.com/birds

At 2:21 PM, Monday,  I recieved a jubilant email from Francois Portmann, long time watcher of hawks in Thompkins Square Park and lest we forget the creator of the gorgeous layout of  Snowy Owl photos  published in Audubon Magazine not so long ago.

  Francois wrote-1st fledge...is  now in the park, up in trees, after being trapped in an air shaft between buildings in the East Village for almost a day following his first flight.
Big ups to Ranger Rob!

Big ups to Ranger Rob indeed!!!

Rob reports that 1st fledge was in good shape and in perfect feather so immediately was taken to a tree in Thompkins Square park...at which point  parents Christo and Dora were on the scene overseeing the situation so no need to  worry about 1st Fledge's after fledge care and feeding.

(This youngster is thought to be male and it seems to me that most if not all young hawks I know of  who end up in air shafts are boys.  Why?  Are they just the right size, females being ever so slightly larger?) 

Happy Hawking!!!
Donegal Browne    (This is the second post of the day, therefore scroll down to see the first.)

FLASH!!! Fledging Imminent at Thompkins Square Park!!!

   

Photo by Francois Portmann   http://www.fotoportmann.com/birds

If you've not seen a fledgling come off the nest for the first time,  it is one of the most exciting moments in hawkwatching bar none.

Francois Portmann,  chief watcher and creator of  the above view says that fledging is imminent at Thompkins.  So if I were you I'd be down at Thompkins Square Park participating in the vigil waiting for the big moment. 

Besides the fact that as this is a new nest it is unknown how successful a spot it is for fledglings to get where they need to go, i.e. the park and not the street bristling with traffic.

Another reason to be there.  It has happened that a fledgling came down into city traffic and had to be rescued and placed in a safe green space by a vigilant hawkwatcher.

For those new to the "fledgling pick up", it is the feet you need to go for first as they  are a fledgling's or really any hawk's automatic weapon.  In an emergency, grab the fledglings ankles with one hand (Don't be timid, JUST DO IT.) and use the other hand to hold them close to your body until you get them to safety.  

HAPPY HAWKING!!!

DONEGAL BROWNE 

As it happens-- Stella Hamilton Finds Pale Male's Fledglings Near the Great Arch in Central Park

 Photo by Stella Hamilton

 Stella has done it again.  She's tracked down Pale Male and Octavia's fledglings over near the Great Arch.

5:53PM  Fledgling attempts to catch a squirrel in a tree.

One of the first lessons Central Park Fledglings learn is that they can't catch a squirrel in a tree.  I've never even seen an experienced Red-tail working solo nab a squirrel in a tree.  The squirrel just scuttles to the other side of the trunk or if on a branch he zips under the branch when the hawk attempts to grab him.  Youngsters have to learn that a squirrel has to be on the ground to get caught.  

Experienced hawks use stealth.  They sit and wait for a squirrel to go to ground and that's when they swoop in.

 Photo by Stella Hamilton
6:08PM Two of the Fledglings look for scraps.

While waiting for dad to "bring the bacon" most often these days a squirrel or a rat, the youngsters look for scraps and or mimic the killing of mock prey. The "play" of all young predators develops their hunting skills.  Young Red-tails leap onto sticks or good sized rocks, grasp them in their talons, then jump up and down with them which is really quite hilarious, and then "kill" the stick or rock. 

6:16PM  Up in a tree, the third eyass looks to the sky for a delivery.  Dad where are you?

Currently Pale Male will be making regular deliveries of prey to the youngsters.  As time goes on the intervals between meals will lengthen as the hawk parents help their progeny to develop hunting skills by bringing on an edge of hunger between food drops.

7:29PM Fledgling finds water in a depression of a branch and drinks it.

Obviously on the nest, eyasses receive all their water needs from the prey they eat. 

In fact when I first started watching Red-tails there was no information in the scientific literature as to whether or not Red-tailed Hawks drank water or even  bathed.

Central Park Hawkwatchers with their multiple and far more intimate observations of human habituated Red-tails as opposed to scientists who tended toward population counting and the like,   saw both these activities but as they weren't of name so were not believed in some circles.  Then Ann Shanahan, long time wildlife watcher and photographer in Central Park got photographs of both activities.  

Score a big one for the citizen scientist!

More as it happens.

Happy Hawking!
Donegal Browne

Evening Feeding by Pale Male (Fourth Post of the Day)

Photos and commentary by Pale Male Irregular Stella Hamilton

6:07PM Here is Pale Male on the ground with a freshly caught rat under his talons . We were standing along the fence on 5th Avenue and 78th street .

Photos and commentary by Stella Hamilton

 Here's the baby eating the rat that Pale Male brought.

This is the fourth post of the day, therefore keep scrolling down. You'll have to go to the next page as well to complete all of today's posts.  

To get to the next page, hit "older posts" at the bottom of this page.

Happy Hawking!
D.B.

How Can Isolde Possibly Feed and Care for Three Fledglings Without Norman? (Third post of the day.)

Photo by Robert Schmunk
                        Isolde monitors the situation.

I have received any number of emails from people extremely concerned about how Isolde, the formel at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine nest, will be able to feed and keep watch over her three newly fledged youngsters without her mate Storm'n Norman to help.  

Norman is currently in rehab with the Horvaths and will continue to be for 5 or 6 more days.

First off  let me say, the world is a dangerous place.  And sometimes bad things happen to young hawks even with both parents in attendance.

That said, barring bad luck, of any formel in the city Isolde is probably one of the females best equipped to pick up the slack of caring for her young without the help of her mate for a week.

How's that?

   Photograph by Donegal Browne
 Tristan, left,  and Isolde, right, in 2007-A comparison of size.

First off Isolde is a very very big girl.  

Tristan, thought to be Pale Male's son, was about Pale Male's size and Pale Male doesn't look all that much smaller than his mates, right?

Well look at the difference in size between Tristan and Isolde.  

Isolde is a very large, very strong Red-tailed Hawk.

We don't know Isolde's age exactly but she is over ten years old.  She is in her prime physically.

Isolde is an extremely competent huntress.  Back in the day when she first took Norman on, occasionally while she was sitting the eggs, he'd show up his crop stuffed to maximum size to "guard the nest" without bringing Isolde a meal.  She would give him the dirtiest of looks,  fling herself off the nest and into the air to hunt for her own supper.

Norman being a young dope, would look stunned and confused. His job was guarding the nest, repelling invaders, duking it out with all comers.  Whatever was Isolde doing?  He'd look at the nest and then look at Isolde flying away.

What to do?  Eventually he'd decide he was supposed to sit on the eggs.

And before long, Isolde would return having hunted for herself and eaten in no time at all so she could return to the nest and make sure Norman wasn't screwing up somehow yet again.

But, you ask, just how is Isolde going to hunt for four?  

Isolde is an extremely competent and skillful huntress.  She knows how to get down to business.

One of the things an experienced formel does while sitting up there on the nest day after day, hour after hour, is, she watches prey patterns.  She knows who goes where and when and how.  She has thousands of images of prey patterns all neatly filed in her head to be used in hunting once she is back in the game and hunting for the fledglings.

Isolde will be using that information to good effect for the next week and thereafter.

Isolde also knows her territory inside out.  She's been there for years and years and years. 

 She also knows where the fledglings will likely be at any given stage of their development.  

Plus Gabriel on top of the Cathedral is one of the absolute best hawk perches in the city to see anything she cares to.  

To say nothing of all the levels available  by using the other extant perches on the  Cathedral to watch prey and the kids both.

Besides as one reader pointed out....

Photo by Donegal Browne
You never know.  There just might be the spirit of a fierce indomitable little hawk called Tristan, to help her out in a pinch.

(This is the third post today. Keep scrolling down if you haven't caught them all.)

Happy Hawking...
Donegal Browne
P.S.  Samantha informs me she is heading uptown today to check on Isolde and the little ones just to make sure all is going as it should.

Stella Hamilton Reports-- the Last Eyass Flew the Coop on 927 Plus What the Family Was Doing This Evening! (Second Post of the Day)

Photo by Samantha Browne-Walters

JUST IN FROM STELLA--
I learned this afternoon that the 3rd baby had fledged off 927 Fifthe Avenue. Again, no witnesses . It has been raining on and off this afternoon. I arrived in Central Park around 6:30 pm to find the baby hawks perched on tree tops around Alice in Wonderland statue. Pale Male has been very busy trying to hunt around the 76th street playground for his trio. 

At times, bluejays would dive bomb him on the head . Anyway, it got dark really fast. Looks like more rain is on the way. I did not see Pale Male with prey . 

 Octavia was heard calling somewhere along the Glade Arch . 

That's my report for now . Will visit again tomorrow. 
Stella

(Keep scrolling down to read the first post of the day.)

DB

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