Red-tailed Hawks of Tulsa, Ranger X's Best Numbers, and House Finch Weaning.

Photograph by Cheryl Cavert
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cheryls_camera/

Jay, the Dad of the Tulsa Oklahoma urban Red-tail nest sat in the rain guarding the territory for two days. The poor guy is soaked through and due to the white "shirt front" and the feathers sticking out from the sides of his head, has begun to look a little like the vampire in The Munsters TV show.

HERE'S THE NEWS ON THUNDER AND FAMILY FROM TULSA HAWKWATCHER AND PHOTOGRAPHER CHERYL CAVERT--

Donna,

Just a quick update on the KJRH hawk family in Tulsa.Between myself, Gunit, and Russell Mills (KJRH web director/hawk watcher on site!) we have been seeing mostly Jay with occasional visits from Thunder. Sometimes at the nest tower, and at other times various nearby perches. It has been a week or two (I would have to look back over posts) since anyone has reported seeing Kay.

Several "hawk-cam" observers have reported visits to the nest platform and have taken some great screen captures! I am sending you pictures of Jay (hanging out in the rain the last 2 days) and a couple of Thunder this morning. I am always adding more pictures to my flickr.com site also. I love sharing them with everyone following the KJRH hawk family in Tulsa!

Cheryl

Photograph by Cheryl Cavert

Jay attempts to get some of the moisture off his feathers.

Photograph by Cheryl Cavert
Guess who from this morning? It's Thunder, the young hawk with personality plus. Eyeing a possible lunch, perhaps?

Photograph by Cheryl Cavert
Thunder does some soaring. Beautiful.

I emailed Cheryl as to whether people were becoming concerned since no one had seen Kay, the nest mom, for sometime. Perhaps she's always been less visible, we'll see.

Which brings up the topic of what to do about or with a downed or injured Hawks. Let's say for instance you're walking through the park, in one hand you have your dog's leash and in the other you're holding your three-year-old's hand. Suddenly you notice there is a Red-tail with a drooping wing attempting to hide under some bushes.

Though you're not in much of a position to rescue it yourself, your hands are full already, your job is not to let that hawk out of your sight. We all know how fast they can disappear, never to be seen again, when left without eyes on them for even a moment. Remember Tristan?

In the past it has sometimes been difficult in the heat of the moment to find a reliable number to call for assistance in NYC, while in that position. Therefore get out your cell phones, your Blackberries, your traveling communication devices of all kinds and punch in these numbers.

FROM RANGER X, HIS BEST TELEPHONIC BETS FOR HAWK HELP--

(1) Your best bet would be to call our Central Communications office at (646) 613-1200. This is a general phone line to Central, not one that is only used exclusively by Parks staff. Central is our radio communications headquarters, so once they get your call they would then reach us over the radio, which is the most direct way of getting in touch with us to get the rescue underway. You could call and a ranger could be on his or her way within minutes.

(2) Another option would be to call the Urban Park Rangers headquarters in Manhattan at (212) 360-2774. They can contact supervisors in any borough and inform them of the situation in whatever park the hawk is in. The supervisors then would dispatch rangers accordingly. This is less direct than the first option and the response time would therefore be delayed.

And I'll add a number (3), which is what I'd also do in that situation as a back up, just in case the very limited number of hard working Urban Park Rangers were otherwise imperatively occupied. (Or the downed hawk wasn't in a park.) I'd start calling whatever knowledgeable Hawkwatchers I thought might be able to get there the fastest bringing their "downed hawk rescue kit".

And of course, an immediate emergency, such as a hawk in the street calls for immediate action if you're willing and able.


On the back of the feeder is Dad House Finch eyeing his offspring on the front of the feeder. Jr. a sunflower seed in his mouth but somehow...


...it would be ever so much easier if Dad would do the separating of meat from hull and stick it down his throat. Junior begs mightily. Little wings aquiver and vocal cords at maximum volume. Dad is not moved.


So Junior moves faster and gets louder. Note that the hull has disappeared from the sunflower seed in Junior's beak. Dad is not moved as Junior is obviously perfectly capable of feeding himself. Dad's still back there see his tail?

While Junior is having his Feed-Me tizzy and not looking at Dad. Dad takes off like a bullet from the feeder and hides in one of the little evergreen trees about 30 feet away.

Junior has really worked himself up. See the feathers that have raised up on the top of his head en masse? But from his apparent feeding expertise, it really is time for Junior to be weaned and Dad has figured out how to do it. He just going to hide.

Junior looks. Where did dad go?

Maybe if he closes his eyes, when they open again Dad will be there.


No such luck.


Junior eats a seed and thinks about it.

Is Dad really gone? Maybe another seed will help

It didn't help one bit. Looking more than a little disgusted. Junior stares at me like it might be my fault. Then cocks his head, as if listening, takes to his wings, and heads straight to the evergreen Dad is hiding in. Dad goes out the side of the tree and the race is on.

Evidently Dad is going to have to keep his voice down if he wants this one to become self sufficient.

Donegal Browne

Triborough Update, The Drive-Thru Red-tail,and What Squirrels Do In a Deluge

Sunset with storm clouds. But why?
(I'm having some computer vs photo program vs printer software issues I hope to be resolved soon so we can get back to photos that actually match what's going on in the blog most of the time.)

The good news is there is an update from Jules about Trib, the son of Athena and Atlas , and little foster brother to Holding-His-Own Hous(ton). Guess what? Trib has a new name suitable for a grown up hawk which he's starting to be. Here's Jules-

Hello All,
We seemed to have agreed on a name for little Triborough. The name is Buster - in honor of one of our local dogs who passed away this spring. Everyone who comes to Astoria Park knew and loved Buster - a shephard/lab/pitbull mix rescued from a junkyard when he was a puppy 12 years ago.

So, this morning, I found Buster in a tree on the edge of his little forest eating breakfast! He was keeping his balance, ripping things up in that fierce NYC hawk way, and keeping an eye on the blue jay that was half-heartedly hazing him. He finally picked up what was left of his meal and skillfully carried it over to the basketball court (which still is under construction). Even though the meal was definately left overs, he looks well-fed and alert. He does his parents proud!
Hope all is well with everyone!
Jules

Here's the Drive-thru Red-tail. I've only seen her while waiting in the car at the window for my refreshing soft drink. And I've seen her at least a dozen times over the last year. She's always being chased by other birds on these occasions, as she was today, and they even managed to attack her so viciously while flying through a small tree that she tumbled a few branches down. But after a flight across some fields she actually landed, perched, and stayed in a tree about 60 acres away. That's a whole lot of acres when sticking a camera out the car window so though she isn't as sharp as I'd like, she did finally after all this time perch somewhere in my field of view long enough to get a photo.

Today's pursuers were Crows and blackbirds of various descriptions. If you look above her you'll see some black blobs. That's them.

This would have been a sequence of squirrel photos in a torrential thunderstorm but it isn't is it?

I'll just have to tell you about it.

Have your ever wondered what squirrels do during a terrific thunderstorm? It did occur to me that you rarely see them during a deluge but I'd always thought they must hang out in a drey or cavity when it rains. Not today.

Suddenly this afternoon, it got extremely dark and it wasn't time for the sky to be dark yet as it wasn't time for night. I looked out. There was one squirrel lounging on the picnic table and another raiding the hanging feeder, neither seemed to be paying attention to the lack of lighting.

Suddenly the heavens opened with 60 MPH wind, sheets of pelting rain, lightening to beat the band, and some hail thrown in for good measure. All of which started full bore. Nothing. Then everything in a blink of an eye. Whoosh!

The squirrels, who'd been absorbed in doing what squirrels do on any given day when the storm hit, raced for one of the large Maples. The first squirrel scurried back and forth on one side of the trunk while the other tried to join him. There was a squirrel scuffle and I realized that the winning squirrel was on the side of the tree that was dry. The loser not being allowed on the dry side was getting pelted. He got as close to the dry side as he was allowed and hunkered down. Even though Winner had the best spot he was pretty much hanging on for dear life. Wouldn't want that wind to get under your belly and fling you off into space after all.

Loser crept further up the tree and got slightly above Winner and after a certain amount of "negotiation" Loser hung from his furry squirrel toes in exact alignment with Winner, who was head up/tail down. Undoubtedly they wanted to keep an eye on each other but perhaps more telling was that they'd found the only spot on a tree in the entire yard that had two square feet of dry bark.

Who says squirrels are dummies?

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