Rosie Of Washington Square Park's Scabby Eyelids

 A photo by Francois Portmann, http://www.fotoportmann.com/birds/ of Rosie of Washington Square Park.  I took the liberty of cropping it  so you could see what wildlife rehabilitator Bobby Horvath is addressing in his email printed below.  
                       (My apologies to Francois.)

Hi Donna,

I blew the pictures up . There appears to be crusty growths on the eyelid. Possibly pox virus but cannot say for sure. I know its been going on for months so its a slow progressing condition whatever it is.

Its only affecting the one side right now I see . It doesn't look like it has any affect on the vision in that eye yet. Only time will tell if it eventually ceases or continues to grow and become an issue on that side.   

Do watchers observe her scratching it at all like it bothers her ?

There's really nothing that can be done without having her in hand to get a scraping for testing and diagnosis. Even then she would need to be contained for a period for probable antibiotic/medication treatment once it is determined what it is.

Now is obviously not a good time for this to be considered and hopefully if it gets worse it  will hold off long enough till her to fulfill her necessary duties during this breeding season .

Thank you Bobby  for taking a look.  I don’t think you’ll get any argument from anyone on that recommendation.

As whatever the malady may be, as you say it has been going on for awhile without appearing to  affect Rosie’s vision or handicap her in any way, that her duties as a Mom during breeding season,  trumps scabby eyelids on an eye that works just fine every time.

And do write in the comments section as per Bobby Horvath's request or click on the "contact me" button to report any scratching or other behavior that might suggest that Rosie is dealing with any symptoms caused by  the "scabby eyelids" of her right eye.

Now,  run do not walk to Francois' site to see his spectacular photos of the spectacular Rosie protecting her dinner from a brown-tail in Tompkins Square Park.  She is one hot hawk! http://www.fotoportmann.com/birds/

Also James O'Brien over at The Origin of the Species Blog has some gorgeous pictures of the Divine Isolde of  The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine.  

Some good hawk news for a change.  

Isolde and Norman appear to be doing just dandy so far this season.   http://yojimbot.blogspot.com/

Happy Hawking!
Donegal Browne 

Has Dominatrix of Tompkins Square Park Moved in with Bobby of Washinton Square Park?

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

The only hawk that I knew who was so human habituated that she'd go about her business within a few feet of humans on a regular basis, no matter who the humans were, was four year old Dominatrix of Tompkins Square Park, seen above.

That is until the new female appeared who has taken up with Bobby over at Washington Square and displayed the same sort of behavior.

Interesting.

Then a few days ago professional photographer and hawkwatcher Francois Portmann asked me to compare the physical characteristics of Dominatrix and Bobby's New Girl.

I did. Hmmm.

Even more interesting.

Photo by Francois Portmann
http://www.fotoportmann.com/birds/
This is Dominatrix of Tompkins Square Park. She is as far as I know the darkest Red-tailed Hawk of name in Manhattan. Somewhat of a rarity in the Eastern United States as the population tends towards a paler hawk.

She also has a very heavy belly band that extends rather far down her sides beneath her wings and it also peaks down in the center onto her lower belly.

Her pale parts tend toward the creamy rather than bright white and she also does not have the white patch on her neck beneath her beak that many Red-tails have on the East Coast. The area is slightly lighter than her head but definitely not the usual contrasting area we often see here.

Also check out her mantle. That's the extension of her head color down over the sides of her shoulders and the top portion of her breast. Hers is quite long. In fact a number of hawks around the area don't really have much in the way of a mantle; their head color stops near the bottom of their necks.

(Isolde up at the Cathedral Nest of St. John the Divine has a distinctive mantle.)

Photo courtesy of roger_paw
New Girl who was seen checking the nest with Bobby in Washington Square Park.

I was going to call this hawk Bobby's new mate but having had the recent experience of Pale Male and his revolving females early last season, we probably shouldn't technically call her Bobby's new mate until courting and copulation occur. So I'll stick with the New Girl.

Check the New Girl's mantle, the belly band, and the other details observed as characteristics of Dominatrix.

That's it. Compare each characteristic. Keep looking.

What do you think?

Early on Francois brought to my attention Dominatrix's feet. Compare them with New Girl's feet and tarsi.

Taking into account the difference in light on the days the photos were taken, the feather coloration looks remarkably similar. As does the belly band pattern, long on the sides and peaked down at center, the saturation saturation, eye color (same age), mantle length, feet, tarsi, under beak patch...

Photo by Francois Portmann
http://www.fotoportmann.com/birds/
Back to Dominatrix again.

Look at the slope of her skull, the proportion of beak length to skull, depth of brow, and the light patches which constitute her "back pack straps".

And how about that attitude?

Photo courtesy of roger_paw
Bobby's New Girl hunting in Washington Square Park.

Compare the characteristics of Dominatrix just observed above with this photo.

I know. They do look alike don't they?

And Tompkins Square Park and Washington Square Park are 8 crosstown blocks (of irregular width) from each other.

See Google Maps Move the map east of Washington Square Park to find Tompkins.

Not far at all is it?

Those who have been watching the New York City hawks over time have found it initially rather remarkable that if a female in a bonded pair is lost hard on breeding season that another female will be seen
with the male almost instantaneously.

The commonly accepted explanation for this is that there are unbonded hawks who are waiting near by with an eye on a pairs prey deep territory and likely even more important in New York City- their well proven nest site.

Last but not least, take into account the very similar and remarkable human habituation factor seen in the female observed in Tompkins Square Park and the female observed in Washington Square Park.

It is really quite out of the ordinary.

Are Dominatrix and Bobby's New Girl the same hawk?

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Donegal Browne

Is this Isolde from the Cathedral Nest of St. John the Divine, Mate of Stormin' Norman?

Why you are looking at this will become clear later. This is Isolde in the foreground sitting on the Cetorelli railing on Christmas Eve a few years ago. Keep in mind, it's much colder in this picture than in the following ones so her feathers are all fluffed out for warmth making her look even bigger than usual.

Earlier in the month Wisconsinite Jeff Murphy was attending his daughter's wedding reception in a party room atop a building somewhere in the neighborhood of 91st and York when to everyone's amazement a very large Red-tail cruised in and landed on the roof's railing.

Most people in Wisconsin recognize a Red-tail when they see one so when Jeff told me he'd seen a big Red Tail on the upper East Side, I figured that he hadn't seen something else he just thought was a big Red-tailed Hawk. One hurtle surmounted.

It came to mind, wouldn't it be fun if it were Isolde come to hunt pigeons and attend the wedding reception?

Well the photographs arrived in my mailbox today, and though these shots are back lit, the bird does appear to be a big dark female. Not only that, but the fascinated guests approached to within 20 feet of her. She stuck. Another tic off the list-a human habituated hawk.

Then those folks not necessarily up on RTH courtesy went within 10 feet of her. She gave them "the look" and they stopped their approach.

All well and good but a split focus isn't grand for hunting so the Maybe-Isolde-Hawk did one of those famous disappearing drops off buildings that urban Red-tails do-- Whoa, no hawk, and soared away below their eye level. Only to be spied not long after making ascending circles and then tidily landing on the building's antenna above their heads.

Jeff then asked Bridgett, his daughter the bride, to get her camera, purportedly better than his, to take shots of the Red-tailed Hawk on the antenna. I'm supposed to be receiving those on disc soon. Yea! More evidence is coming for continued sleuthing towards an ID.

But in the meantime, scroll back up to the top photograph. (Second photo now. D.B.) On some monitors you may be able to see her eye better than others. It looks to me to be large and almond shaped as Isolde's eyes are. There is also something about the curve of her neck and her profile that seems Isolde-ish.

Wait, sit right there, actually you won't have to wait, as when you get to the blog, if I can find a photo that is helpful reasonably quickly it will already be there by the time you tune it. On second thought I'll publish it this way so you won't have to wait. If it isn't there check back for it.

Other wise you may have to wait until the next post. I covered the Recall Walker Event at the Wisconsin Capital today for one of the local papers and I'm fading fast. AND there wasn't a Red-tail in sight. Very disappointing . If a billion jillion people packed into Pale Male's territory, he wouldn't have missed it for the world. He always attends everything. Keeping up with the times? Watching what his people are up to? Hoping for disrupted prey?

Oh no, another question, why aren't there any Red-tails nesting on or around the Capitol, with all it's archaic nooks and crannies plus its green spaces?

Off to find Isolde...maybe.

Donegal Browne

P.S. Got one, maybe more later.