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.

Pale Male and Octavia's Fledglings Meals, the Fordham Hawks, Isolde and Norman's Fledgling Gets Mobbed, Francois Portmann and the Thompkins Square Red-tails

Photo http://www.palemale.com/

As usual Pale Male, the Monarch of Central Park, keeps a calm eye on the Central Park fledgling situation. 

Andy Andrews reports that all is going well with the youngsters and Pale Male was seen delivering a rat and two pigeons to his progeny today.

Photo by Robert Schmunk

 One of Isolde and Norman's fledglings checks out the Robins that has been mobbing her today.

For more news on the Morningside Park Hawks of the Cathedral nest go to http://morningsidehawks.blogspot.com/

For those who missed the June 19th Fordham Redtailed Hawk Update from Chris Lyons, plus a follow up of today's update,

I'm sure all of them have left the nest by this point, but I had been unable to find out where any of them were, or if they'd survived the dangerous leap from that apartment building on Webster.  
This morning, coming in to work, I heard begging calls from a tree alongside the path coming in from Fordham Road, by the library.   I looked up and saw a young Red-tail being fed by an adult.   Just one. 

I don't think this youngster could fly across the tracks, but my guess is that he or she followed the treeline in that little strip park on the other side of the tracks, until he or she reached the north side of Fordham Rd., at which point the crossing would be much easier.   And still pretty perilous, but obviously successful. 

Possible the others are still on the far side of the tracks.   We'll see.

I won't have any time to look for them today, but I'll try tomorrow.

Today's, June 27th, Fordham Red-tailed Hawk Update from Chris Lyons--
Sightings have been scarce this week, but there are at least two fledglings on the campus now.   I'd give a lot to know how they got here.   Rich Fleisher says he's seen two adults together since one was found dead on the Metro North tracks, so it's unclear whether Blanche lost her mate and got a new one, or if this was a completely different adult Red-tail who was killed.

At some point, hopefully, I can at least figure out how big the family is now.  

Chris

As many of you will know, the second Fledgling has come off the Thompkins Square Park Nest.  

And a note from chief watcher of the Thompkins Square Hawks for many years, Francois Portman in response to some questions of mine...

2nd fledge yesterday, the 24th,
both fledges are around the nest area and getting food delivered,
so far all good,
greetings,
francois

 And a link with more photos and details about Shaft's rescue-

http://evgrieve.com/2014/06/baby-hawk-down.html


Happy Hawking!
Donegal Browne

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.

Flash the Third Eyass is Off Pale Male's Nest plus Why Was Stormin' Norman, the Male at the Cathedral, Dead and Now He's Alive?

Photo courtesy of Rob Schmunk http://morningsidehawks.blogspot.com/

Stella Hamilton reports that the third eyass has fledged off Pale Male and Octavia's Nest!!!

 Stella's report will be posted as soon as I excise it from my email...but in the meantime...

Sally of Kentucky asked, I paraphrase, what is the deal with Norman, Isolde of the Cathedral Nest's mate.  First we hear that he was dead and now he seems to be back.

First off though, before we get to that, Rob Schmunk posted an update on how Norman is doing.  A few days ago he was found grounded.  He was weak and very thin.  Off he went to the Horvath's wonderful care at WINNOR.   

Norman had an infection which was keeping him from eating.  As of yesterday Rob reports news from the Horvaths, that Norman is much better as he is capable of taking on whole prey at a meal.  Though he still needs to get his stamina back so he'll be staying on another week at WINNOR.

(And as wildlife rehabilitators may not be paid for their services and exist on  donations, here is the address if you'd like to lend a financial hand for all the wonderful service the Horvath's do for wildlife and Norman in particular. Tell them Norman says thank you.

WINORR, 
202 N. Wyoming Avenue
N. Massapequa, N.Y. 11758)

Now back to Sally's question, and the Norman dead/Norman alive issue.

After the hurricane that hit New York City, a hawk was found dead in Isolde and Norman's territory.  Isolde had been seen but Norman had not been so it was assumed that the dead hawk was Norman.

Let me also say that Norman's coloration and type of physique are relatively common in Red-tailed Hawks.  I always identified Norman by his behavior, the fact he was in the territory during breeding season and was hanging out with Isolde plus his personal idiosyncrasies.

When attempting to figure out if one of a pair has died and a new mate arrived, Norman's common plumage was no help. Nor the fact that of course a new mate would be in the territory and familial with Isolde.  

What made Norman or actually Stormin' Norman identifiable was his breakneck no holds barred bring 'em ALL ON behavior.

So  when breeding season was warming up, a hawk with common plumage showed up in Isolde's company.  As the assumption was that Norman was dead, the next assumption was that Isolde had just chosen a new mate who looked similar to Norman.

But some of us began to realize that Isolde's "new mate" behaved very much like her old mate Norman.  For instance, Tristan Isolde's previous mate was the perfect experienced Dad.  He always did the last feeding of the day so Isolde got a break.  He'd bring food and stay awhile.  He and Isolde would watch the eyasses together for awhile some days.  Tristan would often be visible keeping watch on the territory from across the street from the nest.  Tristan was a very calm stealth hunter much like Pale Male.

Norman on the other hand was a young boffo hawk who liked a good fight.  His hunting technique was more of a scare all the pigeons up in the air and see if he could grab one.  Then he'd come by the nest and almost literally throw prey in on a fly-by.  Then he'd disappear to go patrol the perimeters of  the domain again.  

Now Norman has settled down to some extent, for instance, if you look at the above picture you'll note that Norman has a feather on his beak which may mean he actually prepared the prey before delivering it but he still acts like Norman.

  Many hawks, and Norman is no exception, tend to favor certain perches within their territory, personal hunting behaviors, and favorite roosts.

After mulling over the look and behavior of the current haggard mated with Isolde, it is a case of... he looks like Norman, he acts like Norman, I'm reasonably sure it is Norman, therefore  I'm calling him Norman.

Tomorrow, Wednesday , we're trying for updates as they happen from the field from Samantha Browne-Walters at the Cathedral Nest.  

With Isolde attempting to wrangle and feed three youngsters on her own, Sam decided she should go uptown and make sure all is well with them.

Happy Hawking!
Donegal Browne

Fledges, Fledges, Fledges! Plus the 30 Year Old Red-tail Lives On at the Raptor Trust!

Photo courtesy of Rob Schmunk  http://morningsidehawks.blogspot.com/

Rob Schmunk, long time watcher of the Isolde and Norman at the Cathedral at St. John the Divine nest overlooking Morningside Park, reports the second hatched eyass has fledged.  For more go to http://morningsidehawks.blogspot.com/

Hawkwatcher Anthony Timens sent a FLASH on the run in Central Park  that  there has been a fledge from Pale Male and Octavia's nest on 927 Fifth Avenue!

And Bon Bon reports two fledges at Washington Square!

Photo courtesy of NYTimes
Remember the banded 27 year old Red-tailed Hawk that was 

Picked up on a rural road and ended up being rehabbed at 

The Raptor Trust?  Betty Jo of California wrote The Trust

and inquired how she was doing.  

 Donna,

 I thought you'd like to see this.  Isn't this great--that old lady is still alive and is benefiting young Red-tails.  We can sure thank the person who picked her up off the road.

And it is wonderful news.  This Red-tailed Grande Dame is still kicking and helping Red-tailed Hawk orphans. 

 Here's the news from The Raptor Trust. 

Hello Betty Jo,

 Thanks for asking about the 27 year old female 

redtail. She is now  30 (!) and doing well.   

She just didn't have the stamina for life 

in the wild. So she was not releasable after rehab.
So she stayed with us and is just fine .  

She even has a purpose in life.  


She fosters and "big sisters" the orphaned red tails

that we get each summer, teaching them red tail 

language and how to catch mice.


They seem to adore her, sitting near to her
all the time,  when they're not practicing flying
in the large flight chamber.


  I agree that the fact that Pale Male 

is still alive is a miracle.   
I cross my fingers every time I think of him




  Best
regards,
Diane Soucy
 The Raptor Trust






  

FLASH!!!! Rob Schmunk Reports There Is A Hatch at St. John the Divine!!

 Photo courtesy of Rob Schmunk


                           Isolde feeds!
Rob has observed Isolde of the Cathedral Nest making feeding motions.   For the full scoop click Rob's link below.
http://morningsidehawks.blogspot.com/

Happy Hawking!
D.B.

Pale Male and Zena's Fledgling Assisted by Lincoln Karim, Doorstep Dove and Friends New Youngsters, Plus Isolde and Norman's Fledglings in Morningside Park

                    Photo by Jeffrey Johnson
Jeffrey Johnson, a contributor to the blog whom I met at the Wild New York City Symposium has a piece on author and original Pale Male watcher Marie Winn's Website about Lincoln and one of the Fifth Avenue fledglings.

http://mariewinnnaturenews.blogspot.com/

 
Doorstep Dove and Friend as I reported earlier have fledged three youngsters in this clutch.  Not extremely rare for Mourning Doves to lay three eggs but two eggs per clutch is the far more common number.

Here are photos of the two more mature fledglings.  The third who came off the nest slightly less mature is spending more time hiding in cover then flying except when she absolutely has to.  The other two tend to perch in sight, so we'll wait for a photo of number 3.

When I accidentally  flushed two of  Doorstep's Trio out of the garden, One took off toward the old TV antenna.

Two lifted off from the garden and came down on the short log wall that borders the yard's boundary from the park, about 12 feet away from me.  She looked at me and I at her.  She then bobbed her head at me and I bobbed back. We went back and forth  much as her mother had originally done as a first year bird though she was older as it was winter and she snuggled up to my patio door when it was cold.

  How old is Doorstep now?  I do believe we've been bobbing at each other for six years now.   

Perhaps this little dove will continue the tradition.

Photo by Rob Schmunk

And what about Isolde and Stormin' Norman's fledglings up at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine? 

 Needless to say, young Red-tails aren't the least bit popular with their bird neighbors, ever.  In  fact bird's scolding is a common way for watchers to find raptor fledglings but somehow the bird neighbors in Morningside Park have always seemed the loudest and most raucous when it comes to giving young Red-tails a piece of their mind   Check out Rob Schmunk's blog--

Even Paranoids Have Enemies

 

Happy Hawking

Donegal Browne

Hatch at the Cathedral! Pale Male, a Leucistic Grackle and a Saturday Miscellany

 Photo by Rob Schmunk  

 FROM ROB SCHMUNK UP AT THE CATHEDRAL NEST OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE--

"It looks like a definite hatch at the red-tailed hawk nest at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. On Tuesday we saw the "concerned staring at the bottom of the nest" which often suggests a hatch in progress, and today it seems confirmed by Isolde spending 12-13 minutes leaning into the nest in fairly obvious feeding behavior."

For more on the beautiful Isolde (right) and the energetic Stormin' Norman (left), click on Rob's blog link below

http://morningsidehawks.blogspot.com/

 Photo courtesy of http://www.palemale.com/

Pale Male still a Dad-in-waiting, takes off on the hunt.

 Photo Donegal Browne
The  leucistic Grackle finally obliged to have her photograph taken albeit in the rain.  Note just below the white on her neck she has a bit of the standard Grackle  iridescence .

                  Do you notice anything unusual about this bush?

If you look very very closely in person you can see Doorstep, the Mourning Dove, keeping an eye peeled through the evergreen twigs.  At least I think it is Doorstep, as she didn't flush out when she was spied and returned my head bob.

 And for you wildflower buffs, can you name this flower?

And how about this one?   It's sepals close late in the day.

A grumpy Song Sparrow, Melospiza melodia, paid a visit.

 A White-throated Sparrow, Zonotrichia albicollis, stared.

Then scrutinized.

Then finally, with his beady eyes glued to mine, decided it was okay to get down to eating.

In the meantime his cohort a tan striped form of the White-throated Sparrow refused to even look my way.  According to the research the females of this species prefer his looks to the white striped version.

And last but not least, who built this nest?  It is approximately three feet from the ground.  Thus far I haven't seen anyone in it.

Donegal Browne

Pale Male, Ginger Lima, Isolde, Norman, Washinton Square's Violet and Bobby, John Blakeman on Florida Eyasses Plus the Deer Guards the Goose's Nest

Photo courtesy of palemale.com/

After a day that included fighting off a Peregrine Falcon in front of her nest, Ginger Lima does the cute cocked head posture. But if you look into her eyes, you still wouldn't want to mess with her, coquettish posture or not.

Pale Male flies over 927 Fifth Avenue

The Fifth Avenue formel still hasn't taken to the nest. In fact it appears she prefers to spend a good bit of time standing vigil at her outpost on the west side of Manhattan, from one of Lola's favorite morning perches-the Beresford.

Photo courtesy of Rob Schmunk, http://bloomingdalevillage.blogspot.com/
Morningside Park Hawks, Norman (right) has brought Isolde, who has begun sitting the St. John the Divine Cathedral nest, a nice juicy rat for dinner and is now watching her eat it.

For more on The Divines from Rob Schmunk, click the link above.

Photo courtesy of Christopher James/N.Y.U.

Well, it turns out the window ledge nest of the Washington Square Pair has stuck. And not only stuck but Bobby and Violet are the proud parents of three, count 'em, eggs!

They chose well, as the window and office overlooking this particular ledge belongs to N.Y.U. president, John Sexton and he likes them. A lot!

President Sexton has given the NYTimes City Blogs permission to mount a camera inside said office and now there is a Hawk Cam trained on the nest.
If you can't get out to one of the urban nests in person, there is now a fallback--http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/06/hawk-cam-live-from-the-nest/

Many thanks to Rob Schmunk of the Bloomingdale Village Blog for the heads up.

Photo courtesy of wgrz. com/

When the goose nesting in the above urn lost her mate, this deer took up the gander's duties as nest protector. Fascinating.

From Robin of Illinois--

http://www.wgrz.com/news/daybreak/article/117200/10/Bambi-Protects-Mother-Goose

More on the Florida Red-shouldered Hawk Case
http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/dpp/news/local/sun_coast/dive-bombing-hawk-040511?obref=obinsite

One of those attacked, is a life-long birder, and he stated:

"I just feel sorry for the bird cause he's got no place to go. He's just defending his little piece of the rock. Habitats are shrinking so much, they've become more aggressive," Canterbury continued."

And from Ohio hawk expert, John A. Blakeman-

The removal of Red-shouldered Hawk newly-hatched eyasses from the Florida nest is ridiculous. Those birds haven't got a chance to ever survive in the wild. The photo shows a forceps, probably with food. Those little things will imprint in five-minutes to some human handler. And who, where, when, and how are these birds to be hacked? Without proper and effective hacking, there is no chance they will ever survive in the wild --- if they so much as live to fledging.

You can't just grab some newly-hatched hawk eyasses out of a nest, bring them inside and feed them for 30 days and then toss them out into the wild. I could go on at length about this, but it just won't work unless there is a full-time dedicated staff familiar with the raising of hawk eyasses in captivity, with Red-shouldered Hawk feeding puppets, along with a proper hacking site. This all looks well and good. The results will be so different, I fear.

Sincerely,

John A. Blakeman

Thank you, John.

Donegal Browne

Isolde and Norman Do the Fire Escape, The Uncommonly Beautiful Common Milkweed and a Night Migration-Flying Before the Storm

Common Milkweed, Asclepias syriaca

Before we get to the Milkweed and all the rest, here's a last minute flash from Nara Milanich, whose fire escape hosts Isolde and Norman of Morningside Park and the St. John the Divine Cathedral Nest when the weather gets nippy and the wind blows just right.

FROM NARA--
They're baa-aaak

Isolde and Norman--our two feathered poltergeists--are back. One of them came by this weekend but we didn't notice till the morning and so it's unclear if s/he roosted for the night.

Tonight they are back roosting, just as the temperature has dipped. Both of them are perched on a railing of the fire escape, one right next to the other, literally two feet from the window (the rail extends out perpendicularly from the building facade, in between our two living room windows, so they are not directly in front of the window but to the side a bit). One is facing the window with an eye to what's going on inside, while the other sleeps soundly facing the other direction.

Last year they generally perched on separate fire escapes, especially to sleep, so this seems new. They both also seem to have more light belly feathers than I remember. Is this the hawk equivalent of parental gray hair?


Nara,

How terrific that your cold weather visitors are back! Thank you for letting me know.

They did perch further apart last year didn't they? Perhaps it has something to do with the wind direction or conceivably they've just gotten more comfortable as time has passed and the humans haven't done anything untoward.

Isolde and Norman sound like they are currently in a position taken by Pale Male and Lola during the day, most often in breeding season, when they sometimes companionably sit next to each other on the railing of the building we call Linda. That way they can watch each others back. We often used to joke that Lola was watching televison inside the apartment. But likely she was keeping an eye on the inhabitants as well as using the reflection of the window for a back view as well.

Pale Male and Lola most often seem to roost for the night in separate trees though in sight of each other. Every once and a while we'll discover them in the same tree. And to tell the truth they too may roost on fire escapes but we've just never caught them at it.

As to the lighter belly feathers, they've gone through a molt since you last saw them and for whatever reason a hawks coloration does shift somewhat with each molt. According to John Blakeman an older hawk will have lost most of the color in her belly band, but I doubt either Isolde and certainly not Norman is old enough for that to be happening yet. Pale Male might be but he never had much of a belly band in the first place as he's so light colored.

Thanks again for the update!


AND NOW BACK TO OUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING--

The Milkweed follicles are bursting. (Look back up at the top photo as we've been talking about our favorite topic, hawks, for a reminder of what the Milkweed looks like currently.) What a strange and beautiful plant. Obviously the seeds are spread by the wind and as the seeds are substantial so are the wind catching fibers. They have a gorgeous sparkle in the sun, add that to large spherical umbels covered in dozens of flowers, I've never been able to understand the prejudice against them. Perhaps it has to do with their being a native plant and not an exotic. Besides, we'd not have Monarch Butterflies without them.

Here is a follicle that has only very recently burst. The long white flossy hairs and seeds are a packing marvel. The pod bursts due to the growth and ensuing pressure of the contents.

Then the contents dry in the sun and the breeze teases out the fibers until they take flight.



A number of follicles in various stages of the process.


Even the dried pods are beautiful.

Work on the nest has come to rather a standstill for the moment as the sparrows have moved into my pile of materials (left) for the winter. There must be fifty or so of them that roost there every night.

It was nearly 70 degrees today but as the evening began to come on water fowl took to the air from every direction with obvious intent.

Wisconsin is littered with bodies of water-lakes, ponds, rivers. And whatever the weather was today, the water birds know it's time to get out of town. Likely in another 24 hours we're going to have a plunge in temperature.

It is thought that one of the reasons that they migrate at night is to preserve their body moisture.

I went outside after full dark and could hear them calling to each other as the flew over heading for warmer climes by the light of a sliver of moon.

Donegal Browne