Stella Hamilton Called it- Three Eyasses On Fifth Avenue, An Update and Photos of the Thompkins Square Hawks from Francois Portmann and Baltimore Orioles Really Are Flame Orange

  Photos by Francois Portmann            
  The Thompkins Square Formel sits the nest in a nearly 24 hour rainstorm. 

Just in from amazing wildlife photographer Francois Portmann-

Hi Donna,
No white heads yet.  I think it will happen in the coming week!
By the way, this last storm was the 10th worst amount of rain in a 24hrs period on record.
They made it through!
Talk soon,
Francois

 Photo by Franocois Portmann

It has been raining most of  day, see the lights coming on in the park?  The Formel must be soaked to the skin but she sticks to those eggs.

Photo by Francois Portmann

Deep in the night it still rains and she has shifted position but she's still there, wet as can be.

Photo by Francois Portmann

It is now the following morning.  The soaked tiercel who has obviously been hunting in the rain, arrives with a nice fat rat, but Mom appears to have been more attracted to a  break.  She is likely in great need of some exercise to warm herself up, then she'll eat and he'll sit the eggs for awhile. 

Red-tail Hawks never cease to amaze me!  These hawks are no pussies.

Many thanks for the update Francois! 

Next up, the wonders an old orange can bring to a feeder.  

 When last we saw Quicksilver he was trying to get into the kitchen cupboard without being seen and I was cleaning out the refrigerator.

Two of the things in the refrigerator that I decided some of the wildlife might like were a slice of pineapple that had seen better days , and a rather shriveled orange.  I took them out and stuck them on the fence under the regular feeders.

A friend and I were standing at the window watching a squirrel make very short work of the pineapple slice.  He bit it and then in a blink of an eye he masticated it from one end to the other in no time at all.  WOW!

I was still digesting the squirrel and pineapple image, and watching my furry guest start in on an orange half, when my friend said, "What's that over  there?"

That, as it turns out are the nether portions of a Baltimore Oriole.  Roger Tory Peterson was right when he said they were flame orange!

He unbent and looked right where the pineapple squirrel was now starting on the other half of the orange which was closer to the windows through which we were watching.  Then serendipitously the squirrel saw us and fled.

The Oriole saw the Squirrel leave and immediately flew over to the orange the Squirrel had deserted and appeared to see us but did not appear to care.

He then went straight to work.

Shifted to a new spot, then another.

It was like he stopped for a moment, orange bits on his beak, to think.

Then he looked straight at the window, as if to say, "I'll be back tomorrow.  It better be fresher."
And he was gone.


Photo courtesy of palemale.com
And last but not least, as longtime hawkwatcher Stella Hamilton called it on one of the  first days of feeding, and counted the heads today:  There ARE three eyasses on Pale Male and Octavia's nest.
Happy Hawking!
Donegal Browne

The Teneke Bald Eagle Nest which technically isn't in this particular fence row though it looks like it might be.  It is actually located in a marshy area at some short distance from the fence row which borders this field. 

  This is the Eagle nest I found last season and asked for permission of  the land owner to cross part way into said private land through the marsh on the other side.  I suggested that side beyond it would be closer to come from the other side but also so there was absolutely no way I'd damage any crops in case he thought I couldn't recognize a corn stalk.  I was refused. Sigh. 

Therefore I'll do what I can.  There is a creek that runs into the area with access from the road.  In Wisconsin all waterways are public access.  Therefore if I can come up with some kind of  very flat boat that might make it up the shallow creek, I might be able to get a little closer later in the season.

In the meantime, I want to see if the Eagles are actually using the nest and if there is an Eagle sitting on some eggs up there.

 A mid-range crop.  No bird noticeable yet.

And an even closer crop of a long range photo. Yes!  See the top curve of the white head?  It is on the left side of the bowl.  So they are using this nest, they've laid, and are sitting!  

Next up a look at the Gough Red-tail nest which is not far down the fence row.  As raptor expert John Blakeman suggested,  Bald Eagle and Red-tail Hawk territories sometimes overlap.
  

The Gough Red-tailed Hawk Nest, without any trace of a sitting Red-tail.

Then I traveled further down the fence row looking for hawks.

Aha!  See the hawk near the top of the tree?

I'd say this was the female.  Did you notice the chubby look and a kind of heaviness?  As longtime Pale Male watcher Stella Hamilton would say, "That hawk looks eggnant!"

It won't be long now.  Possibly even tomorrow, they'll start sitting if the formel's look is any clue. 

Onward.

I'd followed the tree line down to the corner and turned right.  Their is a grayish spot in the tree that doesn't look quite tree-ish. I stop and scan the trees with the long lens on the camera.

 See him center?  That's the tiercel from the Gough nest.

He appears to be hunting.

Then he turns his head maintaining eye contact with the formel in her tree near the corner of the intersecting treeline.

Back into the car to hit three more spots before sunset. 

I head for the territory of the two pale belly band-less Red-tailed Hawks.  I can't find them.  Running out of time.

Next on the list, Alfred and Emily Sandhill Crane.
Therefore, I'm posting this and check back if you didn't see a Sandhill post before you saw this one.

Got it?

Good!

Happy Hawking!
D.B.

Octavia and the "kids", Prescribed Prairie Burns, and Vince of Fordham, his New Girl, and the Bad Choice Location

 

 photo courtesy of www.palemale.com/

 Octavia feeds the eyasses on Pale Male's Fifth Avenue nest.

From Chris Lyons, major watcher of the Fordham Hawks currently nesting on Webster Avenue-

Just saw one of those little white blobby things with a black spot in the center--from quite a good distance away, through binoculars, on the top floor of the building I work in, but I've been doing this a while now.  Popped up, looked around, settled back down again.  The female is sitting at the edge of the nest, looking down,  seemingly quite pleased with herself.  She is mercifully spared anticipation of the difficulties yet to come.

So normally joyous news, but now our preferential option--no hatch, and our new queen decides this nest site sucks, and goes somewhere better next time (like back to the campus) has failed to come about.  So we're stuck with option 2--search and rescue.  We don't even know the apartment number belonging to that window yet.  That's where the search part comes in.

Like I just told Bobby, I'm even concerned about the PRE-fledging stage, since you know that as they get close to taking off for the first time, they like to get athletic, and move around, from branch to branch, or ledge to ledge, and that's really not a good idea in this case.  I hope that rather narrow metal structure is going to be enough space for their pre-flight workouts. 

I've got a potential contact number for the building management--may be a false lead, but I'll pursue it.  They have got to know what's going on.   More as the story develops.

Fingers crossed Chris, keep us posted!

Sorry about the lag in posts, for the last seven days I've been doing prescribed burns of prairies and wetlands. It has been a trip.  

And nearly every burn had a Red-tailed Hawk nest on the periphery.  These areas were Red-tail hunting ground which included a copse of trees for a nest and hunting perches with a prairie spread out before it


The latest was a prescribed burn of 125 acres of wetland prairie. One doesn't want to burn down anything accidentally of course but this particular wetland had a four million dollar house in the middle of it.  

Photographs of rural Red-tailed Hawk nests and  aforementioned burns will have to wait as the photo transfer function of blogger is down.  Sigh.

And lest I forget, the Rose-breasted Grosbeak pair who stopped in for a bite at the feeder. 
 

From Robin of Illinois by way of Jackie of Tulsa--

 A BEAVER CAM!

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/ellis-bird-farm-far-beaver-lodge

It's inside the lodge, and a beaver has been on and off the screen.

MUCH MORE TO COME, PARTICULARLY WHEN THE PHOTO FUNCTION IS BACK UP!

Donegal Browne