Pale Male, Rosie and Bobby of Washington Square Park, Kestrel Nests, Francois Portmann, Franklin Institute Cam is UP, Isolde and the New Guy,

A beautiful photograph of the beautiful Pale Male perched on the roof of The Linda Building courtesy of palemale.com

Washington Square Park Nest- I have confirmation that there is at least one egg, and possibly a second, in the nest of Bobby and Rosie. 

James O'Brien of the Origin of the Species blog, http://yojimbot.blogspot.com/, is collecting the location of the Kestrel nests of NYC.  If you have had sightings, he'd like you to email him with the information, if you'd be so kind,  at  yojimbot at gmail dot com.  James has had an avid interest in the various falcons of NYC for many years.


Another example, and one I particularly love,  of photographer Francois Portmann's photographs of the waterfowl of Central Park.  If you've not checked it out yet, GO!  http://www.fotoportmann.com/birds/

And as the NYTimes will not be running a hawkcam at Washington Square this season, those who can't get enough hawk nest action in person can tune into The Franklin Institute cam in Philadelphia. It's up and running!   http://www.ustream.tv/channel/the-franklin-institute-, hawk-cam  And yes, there is a chat room plus a second camera position which catches all the action from the front when the eyasses are getting ready to fledge.

No word yet as to whether Mama and Papa of New York City will be nesting under the eye of NYCAudubon sponsored hawk cam this year.  Sometimes they do use the cam nest site and sometimes they don't.  When I find out I'll let you know.

2010- Isolde the formel of the Cathedral Nest of St. John the Divine stares into the nest bowl.

As many of you know, Isolde's previous mate, Storm'in Norman is believed to have perished in the hurricane but there have been reports that there is a New Guy in town.

 No news as to whether the nest site behind St. Andrew's elbow is being used this year.  The reason?   This nest is very deep and Isolde very private when she's in it.  

In previous seasons I've spent many, many any hour attempting to catch the top of her head or an eye gleaming between twigs to confirm that the nest was inhabited.  It takes grinding patience to confirm.  So far no one has gritted their teeth and camped out on the sidewalk long enough to spot her,  therefore it may be awhile before we know for sure.

As to Atlas and Andromeda's nest in Astoria Park, Queens, I've just whipped off an email to Jules Corkery, one of their chief watchers, for a status report.

Happy Hawking!
Donegal Browne

John Blakeman on the New Mate of Pale Male, First Day Lambs, Cat, Rabbit, Dove Tracks in Snow, Chris Crow, and a Kestrel

Photo by Francois Portmann
www.fotoportmann.com/birdblog/
Pale Male's new mate in the Ramble.

Red-tailed Hawk expert John Blakeman talks about Pale Male's new mate and his prognosis for the 927 nest in the 2011 breeding season--

Donna,

Francois Portmann's photograph of the new Pale Male consort on your website reveals that the new bird is a young adult. It has still rather yellow irises, which indicates that she's just in her second year. She was hatched in the spring of 2009 and is in her first adult year. Consequently, she has no nesting experience.

But all of this is exactly what I would have predicted. The new bird was a "floater," an unmated young adult looking for a mate and a territory. In this case, the new hawk has struck herself rich. She's been able to align herself with a premier tiercel, Pale Male himself, along with his now historic territory.

The new formel's (female) inexperience could raise questions. Will she be able to attend to all of what's required to hatch and fledge eyasses, even though she's never engaged in any of this? The answer leans toward "yes."

Many first-year formels, especially with experienced tiercels in established territories, are able to get all of their mothering duties together and bring off eyasses. There is a good possibility for eyasses this spring. But, in honesty, it's not assured, for two reasons. First is that inexperienced red-tail haggards, particularly when both are attempting parenthood for the first time, very commonly fail. They assemble a nest, but don't get it very well built or very well insulated. Then, if eggs hatch, they sometimes aren't able to find, kill, and bring back enough prey for the newly-hatched eyasses. For inexperienced young red-tail hawks, it often takes a season of failure, where the pair works out what really needs to happen for future successes. This is a normal part of red-tail biology, so if the 927 nest fails this year, I'll attribute it to the inexperience of the new formel.

But she's got Pale Male showing her how things should be done. He's been there and done it all so many times before.

All of that, of course, raises the question of the failures at the 927 nest since it was destroyed and then reconstructed on the new nest support structure. If Pale Male is so experienced, with so many earlier successes, what, then, were the exact causes of the continuing nest failures in recent years, with not a single hatched eyass? Frankly, neither I nor anyone else knows.

Early on, I contended that the new nest support structure allowed too much cold air under the nest and this artificially cooled the eggs. But I don't think that's been the case in the last year or two, where much more nest material has been added each spring; leaving only three probable failure causes: geriatric infertility on the part of Pale Male (which I continue to dismiss), infertility of the earlier formel, Lola, or lastly, some sort of poisoning (which I also discount, inasmuch as poisoning would present very revealing behavioral manifestations).

So, let's hope that it's the fault of the now departed Lola, bless her avian heart. Let's focus on the new mate. I think she has a fine chance of bringing eyasses back to the 927 nest, even though this will be her first, excited breeding attempt.

--John Blakeman

Thanks John, I can't wait to see what happens!

Next up--
Early today I received a text message saying that one of young Jenny Langer's sheep, she and they were featured in a previous post, had just had twin lambs. In fact Jenny, coached by her dad Bob, had had to assist the ewe in the delivery. I'd never seen one day old lambs before, so I shoveled my way out of the driveway, hopped into the car, and headed for the Langer Farm.

I found Jenny in the Langer kitchen, surrounded by dozens of containers of dozens of different kinds of cookies. Jenny's mom Mary is an amazing and prolific cook. As it turned out Mary wasn't around as she'd been sent off to Farm and Fleet, a store that caters to farmers and truckers, to get sheep milk and colostrum replacement formula. ( I have a feeling I'd be hard pressed to find either in Manhattan.) And Jenny's dad Bob was out spreading manure on their corn fields so we were in charge of checking on the lambs every hour.

Jenny and I pulled on our boots and extra layers and headed for the sheep shed.

And this is what we found. I thought little ewe lamb, named Perky, for her amazing stability on her new legs and ability to trot right over to the teat, looked a bit like she'd been hit by a car. I stuck my hand in and rubbed her ears, they were a bit cold as she'd decided to sleep in the far corner away from the the heat lamp, but she roused and Jenny carried her over to the warm spot.


This is larger ram lamb, named Martin for having been born on Martin Luther King's Birthday. It appears that wildlife rehabilitator Cathy Horvath's theory that young male hawks get into and have more trouble than young female hawks holds true for sheep as well. Young Martin here took a long time to stand up and he's still not all that hot at eating.

In case you're wondering why this ewe always has hay all over her face, I was so I asked, her preferred method of eating is to bury her head in the hay barrel.


Ram Lamb on the left, with a good section of umbilical cord still hanging from his belly, appears to be smiling while Ewe Lamb is back to eating.

Speaking of eating, the ewe has an udder problem. Sheep have an udder with two teats. For some reason I had the idea that the udder as a whole manufactured milk which was dispensed by both teats. This turns out not to be the case. The udder is compartmentalized. One half creates milk for one teat, and the other half creates milk for the second teat. There's no cross over. The problem in this case is that one section of the udder is doing it's job and the other section isn't working. Which means only half the amount of milk is being created, only one teat works, and there are twin lambs. According to the vet, at maximum production the one teat that is working will only create 75% of the milk that each lamb needs. Hence Mary's trip to Farm and Fleet.

More on this later but now, a short tangent as I want to know about sheep tails.

Okay, have you ever heard the expression, "three shakes of lamb's tail" as a way to say something happened rapidly? Previous to this I've never seen what a shake of a lamb's tail looked like. It's actually quite odd. A lamb's tail, or a sheep's tail for that matter, is really quite limp. So it shakes from the base and the rest wiggles and curls round quickly but limply.

And the reason I'd not seen one though I had seen any number of sheep is because the tails are ordinarily docked. Why? I asked. And was told that as the tails just hang there limply and can't be lifted by the animal except from the base when defecating...well, you get the picture.

My question then becomes what do sheep tails look like in wild sheep. Why would an animal evolve who's tail will almost certainly be covered in excrement all the time?

Humans have "evolved" domestic sheep by selective breeding for what we're going to use them for . And my suspicion is that the tails of wild sheep and domesticated sheep are different in some way. Either a difference in structure or in the amount of wool on them could make a difference to the issue.



It turns out that although the ewe was in labor, for some reason, she wasn't pushing and she was bleating a good deal. It was decided that she was having trouble delivering . Therefore Bob told Jenny to pull her right arm out of her sweatshirt and coat. She did. She then put on a glove that went all the way up to her shoulder and inserted her arm into the ewe. While being directed by her dad as to what to feel for. Eventually she found a pair of rear hoofs and was told to pull. She did. She'd gotten the legs pulled out and then let go. Everyone then expected that the ewe would then push the lamb the rest of the way out. Nope. During the next contraction he popped back inside and she had to do it again.

Mom attempts to rouse Martin in hopes of getting him up and eating as he's a slow learner. Smaller Perky, alternatively, is making sure she gets her share and more.

The other ewes have come inside to see how things are going. They seem quite fond of watching the new babies.


The ram Sherman has been moved from his original pen in the shed to the Siberia of sheep pens much closer to the open door. Don't worry he's a big guy and he can take it. In fact he's only penned as rams, similar to bulls, aren't all that trustworthy and have actually been known to kill people in a snit. His previous pen had to be given to the ewe who was thought not ready to give birth yet , but being of another opinion on the matter, she delivered her lamb into a snow bank, two days earlier.

Speaking of Sherman, for whatever reason and I'm told he doesn't do it with anyone else, but when I speak to him, he cocks his head and appears to be listening intently.

Have you noticed how tiny Sherman's ears are? Look at the ewe above again. Those are a far more normal size for sheep ears. In fact the lamb's ears are bigger than Sherman's are.


Mom tries to get Martin to get up and eat again. But it's time for Mom to get the shots that may help get the other side of her udder going.
Bob and Jenny hold the ewe in the corner of the stall and Bob digs though the wool down to skin for the inter-muscular injection. Perky true to her name is not to be left out and has scampered over to watch the proceedings.

Being next to mom is important no matter what.

Ram Lamb is a bit confused as to where the udder is located.

Mom takes a rest next to Ram Lamb. She's had rather a hard day herself, delivering twins with hoofs after all.

Mom nudges Martin into place. She does seem to be paying attention to who's eating and who's not.

Mom keeps a sharp eye on Jenny as she attempts to cut the floppy edges off Ram Lambs coat so they don't catch on anything.

All in all, everyone is doing pretty well.

The Annoyed kitten.
In actuality he probably isn't annoyed all the time, he just looks it. He has extra thick hair on his forehead and somehow that makes him appear annoyed or that is Jenny's supposition anyway.

I figure it's time for me to head out before it gets so dark that I loose my way trying to get home. Besides I want to get back to the house and check out some of the tracks in the snow.

Domestic house cat tracks. A walking Cat often steps onto the spot it has previously stepped, overlaying the previous print. Making the tracks appear as a single file line of prints.

Note the overlap of two different feet . Also note there are no claw prints for obvious reasons. Kitty feet have retractable claws.

Rabbit tracks. if it looks like slightly off kilter exclamation points, you've got bunny tracks.

Bisecting rabbit and cat tracks.

And last but not least, Mourning Dove tracks in the snow.

Christopher Crow takes off from the bird bath and heads for the goodie stump.

Just beyond the new pole is a small bird and that bird is a Kestrel. I see them so infrequently that I pulled over into a snow bank, while the other traffic zipped by and tried to get his photograph. This guy was wary and before I got anywhere near him he was off the wire and heading into the woods. Considering the crash in the Kestrel population outside cities, wariness is perhaps the reason that he's still around.

Donna Browne

Urban Raptors You May See On Your Fire Escape Plus a Hawk Kill Assumption

Young Peregrine Falcon, with still a few baby feathers sticking out of the top of her head.
(Talk about focus!)
Courtesy of the Wisconsin DNR

Why a Peregrine? I asked our Anonymous contributor near Ovington Avenue over in Brooklyn what sorts of perches he'd seen the hawks on, which led to some other interesting information and I decided it might be time to recap with photographs just which species of raptors tend to have taken the urban landscape to heart, have become residents, and we may see and like to identify.

Mature Cooper's Hawk
Courtesy of http://in.gov/

Here is Anon of Brooklyn's response to my question about perches--
The only perches I've seen the occasional hawk on is my fire escape (with the suet feeder). I don't know what kind of hawks these are but none of them appeared to have a red tail. So perhaps the hawk is either an immature Red-tail or a Cooper's hawk. Aside from the fire escape, the only other times I've seen any hawks is when they were being mobbed by angry crows.

However, the bird that wreaks the most terror is the little kestrel which zooms down in a dive bomb. All the birds--pigeons, house finches, sparrows, monk parrots--disappear in a flash.

I don't know where the pigeon coop guy gets his pigeons but almost all of them are either white or russet colored. A few of his pigeons might be friendly with the local pigeons because more and more neighborhood pigeons seem to be sporting a bit of white or russet color among their predominantly greyish feathers.

(Anon, regarding some of those bits of white and russet in the "wild" pigeon population, I suspect that when the pigeon coop owner flies his birds, as sometimes occurs, a few of them periodically decide to go off on their own during exercise, perhaps having eyed what they feel is the perfect mate while peering between the slats of their coop out their in the feral pigeon population.

Part of a game that was played by competing flock owners prevalent in the days of many rooftop coops, was to fly their flocks at the same time, hoping to tempt some of their neighbors birds into their flock at which time they'd be "sold" back to the original owner in a form of ransom.)

Photo Donna Browne
And immature Cooper's Hawk peruses a flock of sparrows passing by.

Photo Donna Browne
A crafty male Kestrel, of the species who wreak terror at Anon's bird feeder, hides a vole under his body to obscure it from a trio of foraging Crows.

Photo by Donna Browne

2007-"Little Brother" of the Cathedral Nest of St. John the Divine, son of Tristan and Isolde, watches a jazz concert in Morningside Park. A Red-tailed Hawk commonly called a Brown-tail at this age for obvious reasons. Note the brown tail with its bars and white tip.

And here a nice view of the reverse sexual dimorphism of raptors. Note Big Sister, right, and Little Brother, left of the nest mentioned above, hanging out at the softball field.

WHAT ASSUMPTION OR ASSUMPTIONS ARE BEING MADE IN THIS NEWS STORY ABOUT A DISAPPEARING DOG?

The Gusler family recently dropped off their pet dog, May, at the Pet Lodge on Tuskawilla Road in Oviedo before they went on vacation.

The manager at the Pet Lodge said the dog was left in a fenced back yard for only a couple of minutes by a dog walker.

When the dog walker returned, May was gone.

The employees at the business said with high fences, no holes in the yard and no outside access, there is only one explanation -- one of the hawks in the area carried the dog off.

"I don't doubt it because we are in Florida," the dog's owner, Deanne Gusler, said. "But in my opinion, if they know there is a chance a hawk will swoop down and get my dog, they need to be down there watching her."

The owner of the Pet Lodge said he plans put mesh wire across the top of the back yard fences to protect the dogs from large birds.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.
(Sally of Kentucky and I have been investigating stories of hawks vs dogs, much more to come on that.)
Donna Browne

Urban Red-tails Kay and Jay, Wild Turkeys, and the Ms

PHOTO BY CHERYL CAVERT
Easing her way back into life as usual--
April 7-Kay in a tree at Riverparks at 12:30 pm - about 1/3 mile west of the nesting tower.

PHOTO BY CHERYL CAVERT
A closer look at Kay in the same position.

PHOTO BY CHERYL CAVERT
Kay on the tower, around 5:15 pm.

PHOTO BY CHERYL CAVERT
Kay and Jay, sunset, keeping an eye on things.

PHOTO BY CHERYL CAVERT
Crop bulging, Jay keeps a particular eye on an attacking Kestrel who seems to be a serial offender.

Cheryl says, "I have seen the Kestrel zinging Jay before at sunset. Also several Tulsa Hawk forum members have captured screen shots of a kestrel on the tower.
- Cheryl


Some answers to my questions of yesterday to Rose Cuthbert, Tulsa Hawkwatcher--
Donna,

There are not many pigeons in the park, but then there never are. There is, however, an abundance of mourning doves.

The Langenheim pair does has a nest nearby, about maybe a quarter of a mile at the most. Right along the creek bank in a tree. It is way way back in someone's yard so any observations must be done at a good distance. Cheryl found it. I don't have the kind of camera equipment she does, so I just normally drive by to make sure it is still up there and if there are any hawks flying around near it.
Rose


Thanks Rose. So that's the nest that was found in the back yard.

Have you ever seen one of the Tulsa RTs nab a Mourning Dove? I don't remember ever seeing it. We have a few in Manhattan but rare compared to rural areas and I've not seen the urban hawks get one. I'd think the Red-tails would have a much harder time catching Doves than they do pigeons. Mourning Doves don't circle, are harder to spy on the ground due to coloration, and are very fast up and through the air to cover.

Here In WI I've seen Doves sitting on wires not far from an RT. It could just have been a Dove who wasn't long for this world. But maybe not as these rural hawks seem to usually stick to voles, mice, and I hear rabbits though I've not seen them with one of those either.

I was told by a retired dairy farmer in the area, Ron Wade, that back when he had dairy cows and therefore lots of grain around to feed cows that a flock of pigeons lived on his farm. They would often sit up on roof of the silo to sun themselves. At which time the resident Red-tail pair, would come sweeping round the silo from the rear and pluck off a pigeon, rather like the hunting of urban RTs coming round the corner of a building and snatching a perched bird.

Therefore a some point in time at least some rural Red-tails hunted pigeons, but as there are so far fewer of them than there once was, perhaps fewer hawks know the techniques. And there are just far fewer pigeons available in the first place to hunt at the current time as many of the dairy farms are now gone.

NOW TO THE Ms--
The M formel: Same position, different day, with different light. I was there a bit after sunrise. Very blustery, temps in the 20's, and as usual no sign of the tiercel. Though no doubt he is there, as usual, enjoying his cleverness at not being seen.


THE WILD TURKEYS START STRUTTING THEIR STUFF IN WISCONSIN--
I was up early this morning and was rewarded with a pair of male turkeys displaying first against each other until one, "won the field", the second retired and then showing off for the hidden females in the bushes.

VISITS BY BOTH KAY AND JAY TO THE TULSA KJRH NEST

All the wonderful screen captures today are courtesy of Tulsa Hawkwatcher Sally of Kentucky as are the following updates on Kay and Jay.
http://www.kjrh.com/content/news/hawks/default.aspx
8:22 a.m. Kay visits the tower. Checks her nest, moves a piece of bark and a stick near the eggs, then perches on the rail.

http://www.kjrh.com/content/news/hawks/default.aspx
A little hawk tai chi and a rouse of her feathers, then she settles to survey her realm, Queen of KJRH tower! Cam was zoomed on her feet in the nest but someone was watching and pulled out so we could see all of her! Yes! She looks fit and fine and is NOT calling!! Looks pretty contented, actually. 8:32 She rouses once more and flies off right. Gee it was good to see her in person!!


http://www.kjrh.com/content/news/hawks/default.aspx
10:26 a.m. Jay in nest briefly, very cropped up! I think today he has swallowed the softball! He must have gone out on the camera support because he came back over to the nest, steps ever so carefully into the bowl with the eggs, talons still curled with care, and moved a few twigs.


http://www.kjrh.com/content/news/hawks/default.aspx
He hovered over the eggs as if about to sit (my heart was breaking) Then ever so gently rolled the pale egg a bit, then looked up in a half-sit, seemed to think a moment, then walked over and got up on the bar.

http://www.kjrh.com/content/news/hawks/default.aspx

He is now surveying his kingdom as well. Flew off 10:37.
Oh goodness that was heart-wrenching for me...if they had human feelings it just looked so touching and sad, like "Hi little egglets, I still love you, I want to care for you but something tells me its too late"...I know, I indulge in the dreaded anthropomorphic illusions, but after all isn't that partly why we love these birds? We feel we "know" them in some intimate way?

Sally

Indeed. D.B.

Updates: Hous, Houston 2, Lead Fledge, and 111th st. Kestrel Fledges

A look at Houston 2's throat courtesy of the Horvaths

And here's what hard working wildlife rehabilitator Bobby Horvath has to say about Hous, Houston 2, and the Lead Fledge from the Cathedral, who are all in his and wife Cathy's care.

Houston 2 is doing much better and the majority of the infection is gone. A small amount still remains at the back of his throat but he looks 100 % better.

Hous 1 is holding his own , no worse and the Cathedral youngster is doing about the same with a small improvement in the usage of the feet but nowhere near ready to go outside .

Three cheers for the battling fledgling Red-tails! Excellent news!

Houston 2 is well on his way to getting his health back.

Hous (Houston 1) who didn't look like he'd make it another day, is holding his own. Yippee!

And it sounds like the big female fledgling who is suffering from lead poisoning is, though slowly, getting a little better. Good for her! Lead poisoning isn't for weinies.

111th st. American Kestrel, Falco Sparverious, photos also courtesy of the Horvaths

And more from Bobby about sibling Kestrels--

These pictures are of a pair of 6 week old kestrels from a nest on 111 st. and St. Nicholas Avenue. The first was found Monday and the sibling yesterday a block away .

The first (on the left) has a bad case of frounce which you can see is actually displacing the lower mandible from the infection and large growth in its throat. Parent kestrels will raid pigeon nests and bring the babies back to feed their own young . Baby pigeons are infected with frounce by their parents while crop feeding from them.

Bobby

Not only is his mandible being displaced but the swelling is so bad he can't even look down.

And why was his brother picked up? Because as Cathy Horvath said to me the other day, "Kestrels learn to fly from the ground up".

Talk about fledging problems, I imagine there are very few good nest sites for Kestrel fledglings in New York City. Cavities tending to be at a premium, urban Kestrels often use cavities inside eaves or other little hidey holes in buildings for their nests.

Where do their youngsters end up when they fledge. On the sidewalk or street, running around looking for places to branch up. Neither spot being a safe place at all for birds who can't fly yet.

While his brother is being treated for frounce, the healthy fledgling will be learning his flying lessons.

Look at all the lesions in his throat and the instability of his mandible. That has to be dreadfully painful.

Also very ingenious way to get a look at such a small bird's throat or to get his mouth open for feeding if necessary

Photograph courtesy of Francois Portmann

Now and again, I get an email from a reader who points out that though when I write about birds and animals there are photos of them, but only very rarely does anyone get a look at the people that are being talked about. They then say that it would be nice to be able to see the people in their minds eye as well as the animals as they read about them.

Honestly part of the problem is that we rarely think to take a photo of the humans because we're so enthralled with the animals. But that wasn't good enough for reader Anthony Swain so luckily the other evening when we all went owling , Swiss photographer Francois Portmann did think of it and here is his wonderful photograph.

(Talk about Psycho Noir, I no longer question why we weren't bothered by any bad guys that evening. )

From left to right: South African naturalist and filmmaker Adam Welz, me, New York's own sharped eyed falcon watching James O'Brien of The Origin of the Species Blog (see links), Wildlife Rehabilitator Carol Vinzant, and the man who set up his camera for the shot, photographer, Houston Hawkwatcher, and my partner in crime in the Houston tiercel capture, Francois Portmann, www.fotoportmann.com.

So Anthony are you satisfied now? Sheesh.

Donegal Browne