John Blakeman on the Flegling Upside-Down-Head Move and the 90 foot Elm Tree That Obliterated My Back Yard

 Photo Donegal Browne
Fledglings of Tristan and Isolde at the Cathedral Nest of St. John the Divine, 2006.  One of which is doing the upside down head move.

And here is Red-tailed Hawk expert John Blakeman with a theory as to why they do it..

Donegal,

The upside down posturing of Red-tail eyasses and fledglings is well known, especially among falconers. It’s just plainly cute and endearing — but its purpose and functions are unknown. It seldom happens in second-year Red-tails, and virtually never in haggards (full adults).

My explanation is that it helps fine-tune developing reflexes between the eyes, neck muscles, and the visual portions of the tiny Red-tail brain. I believe that the bird is learning to process visual information that occurs in varying orientations — a factor of great importance when in flight at various angles, compared, to the un-varying horizon. Learning this statically when perched obviates any in-flight crashes caused by visual misperceptions.

–John Blakeman

John,

Thank you for your explanation.  It makes perfect sense.  My intuition was it had something to do with processing vision but I wasn't sure what.   Not only is it cute and endearing there is also a bit of the weird about it for the first time viewer as the head is where it "should be" and then suddenly it isn't. The first time one sees it, it has kind of an Alice in Wonderland feel to it,  rather like seeing the skunks that stand on their hands for the  first time.  

I've also seen several fledglings obscuring the vision of one eye with a pillar or branch then looking with two eyes, back and forth.  I suspect it is similar to checking out binoc vision similar to the experimentation of young humans who cover one eye with a hand, take it off, look with two eyes and then look with a hand over the other eye.

Now on to other weird matters... 

The day before yesterday, I woke up at about 4:45AM.  I wasn't sure why as this isn't ordinarily when I wake up.  I  then began to hear voices, rather excited ones, outside.  Also a rather un-ordinary thing to happen.  I pulled on some clothes and went out.

This is what I saw.

  5:01am My side neighbor's  90 foot Chinese Elm had uprooted itself...

 in a freak localized storm, which I had peacefully slept through, and taken out three quarters of my hundred year old maple... 

 and a quarter of my two hundred year old oak.

Though the trees did better...

 than the fence I share with the back neighbor.
My back neighbor got half of the side neighbors elm...

 and I got the other half.  But at least it missed my house.  The back neighbor had his house roof and his garden shed clipped when the tree came down.

And this sort of thing happened all over town and not really anywhere else  

The town was declared to be in a state of emergency. 


Bizarre.

And in daylight, it didn't look much better.  This is the tree neighbors yard.  Note the uprooted elm on the right and it's mid-section and top making it's way left, crushing my fence and entering my yard.  Sigh.

But it did bring out a few Good Samaritans with chain saws...

 who burn wood for heat in the winter.  They saw it up and help you clean it up and they get a good bit of wood you don't need as you have plenty already.  In my mind an excellent solution to the problem in which no grand amounts of money have to go to a tree service.

AND...I got to take a zillion trips on the four wheeler with the little red cart full of tree limbs to the towns wood chipping area.  You have never seen so many vehicles of of so many kinds carrying tree limbs in your life-everything from Farmall tractors with manure wagons to T bird convertibles. 

Plus I did find some very cool gooey brown fungus.

Oh no it is not done yet...but I'll keep you posted.

In the meantime...Happy Hawking!

And remember you never ever know what is going to happen next...so do try and enjoy it!
Donegal Browne

The Brooklyn Botanic Garden Nest and Robin Nest Placement...WHY THERE! Reasoning vs Instinct in Robin Reproduction

       Photo courtesy of Ann Feldman           https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=pcb.10152169421917029&type=1

The Red-tailed Hawk nest at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden once again sports what looks like one eyass.

When last we met, I published the photos of the Robin's nest under the dam, which brought a number of responses concerning Robins and nest location.

 Just a little refresher, there is the Robin's nest just under the walkway on a metal plate.  It is secured in place by a metal rod.

 So far things seem to be working out alright, but that metal rod is connected on the top to the wheel that opens and closes the dam.  Therefore it either spins in place or goes up or down controlling the "doors" and hence the flow of water through the dam openings or lack thereof.  

Its movement has not dislodged the nest thus far.

 First from Sally of Kentucky....  

 Robins nest in very interesting locations don't they? I wonder about their decision-making. We have a pair that nests around the raptor rehabilitation center I volunteer at. One would think that nesting above a hawk's mew would not be a good location, or above the peregrine's mew. I had our education GHOW on the glove yesterday and the parents were making quite a ruckus at our presence-3 ready-to-fledge babies peeking out over the edge of the rafters of the mew! We even had one nest INSIDE our large flight cage with rehabbing hawks inside it! I know one or two made it out to fledge, but not all...I don't understand their reasoning for nest placement.

Next up Betty Jo of California...

I hope those robins aren't the type of bird that first land on the
ground when they fledge.  I have decided that robins aren't the
brainiest birds around. After meeting the one that nested repeatedly in the center of a 2 story tall Hawaiian tree fern--the nest being progressively tipped as the new fronds un furled. When I was working there the landscaper kept a huge extension ladder nearby so he could carefully slice off each frond as it started to tip the nest.  The homeowner said several times before the babies had been dumped.
Sigh--birds have such a hard time.
Betty Jo

Robins fresh off the nest once they land for the first time don't really have the wing works to fly right away. They just trot around behind a parent learning about looking for food and being fed by the parent, usually Dad as Robin fledglings tend to have a staggered fledge, for several days until they get the wing strength to get some elevation. 

When a young Robin first comes off the nest depending on wind and other variables they can end up going rather far on their first flight.  It is possible they'll be able to make it if things go right.

That said...

Yes, Betty Jo, Robins do most often land on the ground when they first fledge as they tend to be flightless for several days.

Sally said, "I don't understand their reasoning for nest placement."


Betty Jo said, "I have decided that robins aren't the
brainiest birds around."

No ladies, Robins don't appear at least to be the brainiest birds around nor do they do much reasoning when it comes to nest building or  placement early on in their lives.

Whereas our beloved Red-tailed Hawks may take several seasons to come up with workable criteria for placement of a nest, as well as what to use for materials,  and how to build it depending on the environment in which they find themselves if neither has done it before, Robins often don't have that kind of time to be successful adapters.

The average lifespan of a Robin is l.l years.  Many are working completely on instinct when it comes to nest placement, building, chick raising, and all the other life skills as well during their first breeding season.

Only about 45% of Robin nests are successful.  Why?  Well besides the vagaries of nature, weather, predators and the like, many Robins at this time of year are nesting for the very first time  so there is little to no life experience and hence reasoning to help them be successful.  

They are flying blind on instinct.

It appears to me that part of Robin placement criteria is something for the nest to sit on, which can be a branch or some human made ledge and they also seem partial to an eave, a roof, or enough leaves above the nest for some protection.  As we've seen, what is underneath the nest even in the case of Red-tails who nest over streets or near railroad tracks or other hazards doesn't appear as important as other criteria.

If a Robin manages to live through its first nesting season, which can mean raising two or three broods of chicks, or at least trying to, they've acquired enough useful life knowledge which could include what works and what doesn't in nest site selection  that they may well then live five or six more years or longer continuing to learn what works and what doesn't and getting better at it all the time.  

The longest life span in the wild recorded so far is 13 years, 11 months for an American Robin. 

I therefore posit that the nests and behavior that Sally and Betty Jo have observed as well as the one I found under the dam are likely the work of  Robins working on pure instinct as they are young and haven't had the chance as yet to learn  enough about nest building and site selection to make better choices.

They can't reason as they've no experience to help them along the reasoning road.

Though I once saw a scientist give a paper at The Field Museum in Chicago about "luck" being a factor in an individual of a species or even a group of a particular species survival, which may then make a difference in the survival of an entire species.  He sold me.

So no matter how atrocious some of  the decisions these birds have made look, a little luck can  go a long way in helping them be successful.  For instance the young Robins in the nest under the dam just need a little of  the right wind  for just a little while to get them to safety, which as this is a very small dam, safety is not that far from the nest at all.

Fingers crossed.

Donegal Browne

Pale Male's Nest, Thompkin's Square Red-tails and Quicksilver the African Grey Parrot Goes Berserk in The Laundry Room

Photo courtesy of www.palemale.com/

Octavia feeds the eyasses.  One is upright these days and her whole head is visible.  Two can be seen just right of One.  See the bit of top of head fluff above the twigs and between them as well?  As to a Three, only time and getting taller will reveal her if she's there.

Some hawkwatchers guessing by early feeding motions suggest that there might yet be a Three in there.

 Stay tuned!

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

One of  Francois' beautiful nest cam shots of the Thompkins Square Hawk Nest.  Mom not only sits the three eggs she also does a little interior decorating at the same time.

 When we last saw Quicksilver the hormonal African Grey Parrot he had set himself up in the top section of the lower laundry cupboard.  Grey's are cavity nesters and Silver is doing his best to attract a mate.  

And I keep interfering.  When I got him out of the cupboard and put him to bed last night, I took the cloth off the shelf and hid it.  

Do understand I'm not being mean.  Silver does not have a mate and  the more hormonal and "nesty" he becomes, the more likely he is to be miserable, loose control, and dive bomb  someone, i.e. me.

Therefore I am attempting to rid his areas of anything that could make things worse.  

Chewing paper activates the problem so I'm placing towels under his play and food areas instead of the usual paper.

I also keep taking Silver out of the laundry room but can't keep him in his cage all day.  Plus he is flighted because there are two cats in the house, and a periodic Basenji, all who are his buddies...but hey, one never knows when "play" might get weird  and I don't want him to be a sitting duck.

I put him in his play area in the bow window with all sorts of goodies and toys.  I start to do some work.

CRASH!!!! Tink!  Thump!

Crapola...

A cap, bits of chewed  toilet paper, a light bulb, silver polish and the Crash...no doubt the big aerosol can of Lysol.

Yup.  Check out the top picture. The Lysol is prominently displayed on the center shelf...

Where it no longer is.  Now the prominent display is a Grey Parrot.  He's on a different shelf than he was yesterday.

I get him down on a stick, amidst much beak clicking and feather ruffling, and put him back in his play area.  

Unfortunately the laundry room does not currently have a door.

A little later, though I'd not heard any crashes, I went to check on him anyway.

He was GONE.   I hadn't heard any wings so he must have walked past me.  Quite stealthy of him to have figured that out actually.

Alright how did he get the closed cupboard open?  And  the stick perch isn't long enough to get him.  He doesn't look all that amiable actually.

 See how ruffled up his neck feathers are and how he's crouched?  He's not going to give up easily.

How did he get all the way up and into that cupboard?  His wing span is wider than that and it isn't as if he has to practice flight niceties.  He flies from one perch to another.  His flying isn't the same as an outside bird who has learned all the tricks, finesse, and fine points of flying because it is a matter of survival.

In a previous picture the door is ever so slightly ajar.  Did he climb the toilet paper or just chew on it for awhile?  He may have gotten to that bottom shelf and then flapped or crawled his way up?

I come closer.

 Silver looks down at the dryer, one of his favorite places to perch, and says "Want Up".

Why doesn't he just fly down there?  

 He looks at me and says, "Want UP!",  more forcefully. The perch stick isn't going to reach.  I'll have to climb up on the washer.  What if he flies at my head again while I'm standing on the washer?

Silver cocks his head and makes a kissie noise at me.  He's trying CHARM? 

 Then I realize he is nervous about flying out of the cupboard. The space is too narrow.   I push  the door open further.

WHOA!!!

Before I can even get the camera to my eye, I shoot blind, and Silver does a curve very close to my head and heads for the dryer. 

 Silver lands and says, "Want some dinner", so I pick him up and take him to where he wants to go. I close the cupboard. No problems at all.  He eats dinner.

There are no more pictures because before long things got very wacky. 

Silver ate and seemed perfectly happy talking away in his play area.   

Eventually I realized that things had gotten quiet.  I went on the hunt.  Of course he was in the laundry room. This time he was  hanging from his beak then he'd scuffle his feet up onto the handle and try to open the door of the cupboard with his beak.  It wasn't working this time.  

This is a frustrated parrot.

I got the perch stick and put it under his feet.  He got on it and immediately launched himself at my head.  I ducked and turned off the light in the laundry room.  Not dark enough yet.  He keeps swooping at me.  Every feather on end.  He's not biting or anything yet.  Just bombing me.

Okay!  THAT'S IT!  I get the umbrella and put it up.  Mistake.  I've forgotten how much he hates umbrellas.  He is really crazy now.  He stands on his cage and screams he is so angry.  But TA DA he is no longer flying at my head.

This is better...well sort of.

I keep the umbrella up, drag a chair over, go and get a blanket, hammer, and nails. This takes a lot of juggling and likely looked completely hilarious.

Wish I had video.

Here I am standing on a chair,  in the doorway to the laundry room attempting to balance an umbrella on my shoulder to protect myself from hurtling parrots, while holding the blanket up to the molding, and pounding nails into it to cover  the doorway while the parrot in question screams two feet away, at times interspersed with the sound of  the smoke alarm, in abject frustration.   

It took awhile but...   

 TA DA!  I took down the umbrella.  Silver quit screaming.  Put the other goodies away and by the time I got back Silver was quietly standing on the top of his cage, that's his cage cover on the right of the photo.  He looked at me and said softly, "Tired".

Poor guy, I'm sure he was.  I didn't feel much like a spring daisy myself.  But he got docilely on my hand on command and I put him in his cage to sleep.

I told him it was time to go to sleep and that he was pretty and very smart and he had pretty toes and that I loved him and he should have a good sleep, like I do every night.

And for the first time ever he said softly, "Love you",  back.

We'll be keeping that doorway covered for a good while to come.

Happy Hawking!
Donegal Browne

A Wednesday Contributor Miscellany-Imping, Decorah Eagles First Hatch, and Does T3 Have the Look of Pale Male?

 A Red-shouldered Hawk Nest in a tree just across from the entrance of  the Port Orange Regional Library in Florida.  It seems the parents have been dive bombing the borrowers as they go in and out.

Do the patrons freak out and want the nest torn down?  Nope.  Does the town scream liability and want it torn down too?  Nope.   They put up these signs.

 And numerous folks appear to be hanging out just to watch the hawks, dive bombing or no.
Many thanks to Robin of Illinois for sending in the link!  Check it out-
http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/mother-hawk-attacks-library-patrons-in-florida/

I asked myself why this episode of hawk bombing hasn't sent people screaming down the walk as it has in other locales?

Could it be because library patrons read books?

Next up, courtesy of  Jackie of Tulsa,  the Decorah Eagles have their first hatch of the year.

A little surge of biophilia anyone?

And Mom looks on.... http://www.ustream.tv/decoraheagles

I just took a moment to look at the cam and heard eaglet cheeping from under Mom as she re-situated herself on the nest.  It's great the Decorah Cam has sound!

NEXT UP SNOWING OWL WING IMPING!

Snowy Owl Feathers to be used for imping.  I'm quite taken with the fact that they tape the replacement feathers to the wall.  Makes perfect sense though as if you did't batten them down somehow they could waft all over over the place.

A Snowy Owl with singed wing feathers gets an expert imping job.  Yes imping! (I love that word.)  It is a falconer's technique in which saved feathers of the correct position are clipped to the right length and are connected to the shortened feather shaft of the damaged feather... which is still connected to the bird.  Bamboo is often used as the stabilizer between the two shafts.
http://www.wtop.com/109/3590725/DCs-snowy-owl-gets-replacement-wings

And as  I love the word here is a rundown complete with origin..

  Imping, a verb used in falconry

a. to graft (feathers) into a wing.

b.to furnish (a wing, tail, etc.) with feathers, as to make good losses or deficiencies and improve powers of flight.

 

6. Archaic. to add a piece to; mend or repair.

 Origin:

before 900;  (noun) Middle English impe, Old English impa, impe  shoot, graft < Late Latin impotus, imputus  grafted shoot < Greek émphytos  planted, implanted, verbal adjective of emphŷein  to implant ( em- em-²  + phŷein  to bring forth); (v.) Middle English impen  to plant, graft, Old English impian, geimpian,  derivative of the noun (compare Old High German impfōn, impitōn  > German impfen  to inoculate); sense “demon” < phrase imp of the devil

 "Imping." Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition. HarperCollins Publishers. 03 Apr. 2014. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Imping
>.
Sally of Kentucky just sent me some photographs of T3, the hawk who has been courting Franklin Mom.  Sally reports that there has been some talk that T3 has the look of Pale Male.  And he DOES.  Will post some pix as soon as permission comes in.

TIS THE SEASON...HAPPY HAWKING!

Donegal Browne

The Sandhill Cranes, Emily and Alfred Plus their Canada Goose Pair Buddies.

Sandhill Crane Emily, right, and Alfred, left, are foraging in the mud, in the same field in which we last saw them.  This may bode well for a possible nest in the area.

The pair continues to poke their beaks into the creek and the mud along the sides for seeds and other goodies.

Sandhills are omnivores though in some regions they are mainly herbaceous and may augment their native food diet with cultivated waste corn, sorghum, and wheat.

Northern Cranes and those hard on breeding tend toward a more varied diet which includes small mammals,  berries, insects, snails, reptiles, and amphibians.

 Alfred notices me.  Drat!

And the pair begins heading away while keeping an eye on me.

DRAT!

Vigilant stances.  Then cars come from both ways and both Cranes take to their wings while I'm attempting to get the car further off the road.

 They don't go far, just into the cornfield further down the road.

That's when I see the Canada Goose pair.   Ah, could these be the pair from yesterday who were crowding the Cranes?  Interesting.  The Gander gives me a look.

And off they go as well.   And that leaves an empty pasture.  Off I go to see if Arthur and Guinevere the Red-tailed Hawk pair are sitting their nest yet. They are the Red-tailed Hawks we found perched in the dead tree with the rodent with a short tail.

No sign of Arthur or Guinevere other then their somewhat bough obscured nest, left of center mid photo.

It is that expectant time of year after all.   The waiting time.  The time when all strain for the sound of pipping and the cracking of eggs.

Two posts today, so keep scrolling down if you haven't seen the post on the Teneke Bald Eagle Nest and that of the Gough Red-tailed Hawks.

Happy Hawking!
Donegal Browne

Wednesday Miscellany-Pale Male, Mama Of Queens, the Washington Square Eyasses, Robin Chicks, and Tiny Bunny

Pale Male arrives with a delivery and stares at his nest full of eyasses while Zena looks on.
Screen capture courtesy of palemale.com

Mama of Queens stands her nightly vigil with her eyasses, courtesy of New York City Audubon and http://www.jknaturegallery.com/rth_nestcam.html

Rosie takes a break, leaving the eyasses on their own. Note the parental tail feather, left.  Unusual for one to drop at this time of year.  And once again a clear view through the newly cleaned window.  http://www.livestream.com/nytnestcam

Remember the Robin nest in the four foot bush?  In a year of incessant nest robbing, this Robin pair hatched three and have kept three chicks.

I was moving some wood in the wood pile when suddenly the tiniest of baby bunnies hippity made an appearance and hopped as fast as her tiny haunches would take her into the long grass at the end of the garden.

 And there she stayed, frozen, at least while I was looking.  A half hour later or so, I was at the other end of the garden.  I looked up and there was a mature rabbit about 15 feet away, staring at me.  She then slowly went into the grass where tiny bunny had hidden.  I then went back to watering the straw, which I hope will turn into a Wine Cap Mushroom patch.


Neither reappeared while I was out and I wonder if Mom Bunny nursed tiny bunny in the tall grass.


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