Riverside Fledges, Pale Male and Ginger Lima Update, First NYC Peregrine Fledge of the Year and Is There Really Another Seed Eating Robin?

Photo courtesy of palemale.com The classic new fledgling hawk stare at a human. There is no fear in their eyes and they look directly into your camera lens looking at your eye looking at them, with just a hint of Go Ahead, Try it in their expression. It is a priceless moment in which you remember all the reasons that you watch hawks and why they are so important to the urban landscape. It gives delight of the kind that gives a shiver up your back and makes the hair on your arms stand on end.

BOTH RIVERSIDE EYASSES ARE NOW FLEDGLINGS--Out in the world at large, or at least the world of Riverside Park, being fed and trained by their mother. Most nests with two eyasses would have the benefit of a parent each to teach hunting techniques and to bring "carry out" meals. But as most of you will remember, Riverside Dad died of rat poison, when these two were only a few days old. Riverside Hawk Watchers, wildlife rehabber Bobby Horvath, and the NYC Parks Department came through and saved these two from likely starvation by supplementing Riverside Mom's hunting with handily placed fresh frozen rats and quail.

Have you written a note to Adrien Benepe, Commissioner of NYC Parks asking that all poison be removed from Red-tailed territories from February through July or later if there is a late hatch? If not or you are ready to shoot off a second missive as nothing has happened yet, get going!

For particulars on the rat poison vs Red-tail Emergency in NYC plus the hawks of name who have died due to this debacle, click the link below!

http://palemaleirregulars.blogspot.com/2011/05/for-red-tailed-hawks-of-nyc-any-meal.html

And for those who know about all the deaths, but have just been slothful or horrendously busy find the email link and the U.S. Mail address below.

Do it NOW, or do it AGAIN! There are as of this moment, inexperienced Red-tail youngsters bumbling around NYC parks killing rocks and sticks for practice and have no idea why that rat might be acting funny and should NOT be eaten!

Lives are in the balance.

You can fill out the on-line form, which limits you to 150-words:
http://www.nycgovparks.org/contact_us/html/contact.html

Or get out those writing implements out, computer or good ole handwriting on stationary and get to it!

Honorable Adrian Benepe
Commissioner or Parks and Recreatio
The Arsenal
Central Park
830 Fifth Avenue
NY, NY 10065

Photo courtesy of palemale.com
And the second fledgling practicing more branching and staying up out of harms way above the swirl of humans and dogs.

Photo courtesy of palemale.com
And who should be flying in with a pigeon for her fledglings but the hardest working hawk Mom in New York City. This bird deserves such praise for her dedication to her young. Though loosing her pair bonded mate, a very serious thing for a hawk at any time, let alone so soon after a hatch- she carried on through her own loss and has made sure Riverside Dad's genes will go out into the world for one last time.

She did and is doing her part, remember to do yours so it will never happen again.

Photo courtesy of palemale.com

And here we are back in Central Park at 927 Fifth Avenue. You could be sitting on the Hawk Bench and have this view, though it would be a bit smaller with the naked eye.

Speaking of genes, once again today I was struck by the similarity in the physicality of Isolde of the Cathedral Nest and Ginger Lima. Is G.L. a former resident of that uptown nest?

We'll likely never know without a DNA study, but as Isolde and Norman have been periodically hatching urban savvy young hawks uptown, it is possible.

Photo courtesy of palemale.com
Ginger Lima sets to work, methodically feeding the newest set of urban eyasses. The near miracle hawk young of 927 Fifth Avenue. Pale Male has done it again with Ginger Lima's help!

AND from pro photographer and birder Francois Portmann--
Hey Donna,

First peregrine fledges of 2011 in Manhattan
At 55 water street.

Francois

There are pictures but Francois and I have had a bit of a data transfer problem this evening so the photos will be coming soon!

Photo by Karen Anne Kolling
REGARDING SEED EATING ROBINS FROM KAREN ANNE KOLLING OF THE GONZO DECK IN RI.

I can't say with certainty that this is a seed-eating robin, because the supermarket seed mix is called Fruit and Berry, but I have never seen anything but sunflower seeds and other seeds in it.

I've also seen robins make off with shelled peanuts. The one time one tried to eat one on the deck, he was not making progress before he flew off with it.

Meanwhile, a fledgling sparrow did the feed me number to an adult grackle, yikes. The grackle ignored him and the fledgling hopped off to an actual sparrow parent. Normally on the deck the only bird contention is the smaller ones make way for the larger ones, but a year or two ago I did see a grackle flip over a little sparrow who was next to him and the grackle was obviously going to go for his abdomen so I went out there howling like a banshee and they both took off. I hope the grackle's talons had not caused any puncture wounds, otherwise the sparrow looked okay.

Thanks or the new information Karen. I suppose the berries would be dried up and perhaps seed-like? Could you check the ingredients on the bag and see for sure there are no berries in it?

You no doubt saved sparrow. I don't know how sharp a Grackle's toenails are but their beaks are very sharp. I have seen them ambush fledgling sparrows in Central Park and eat them.

Donegal Browne

P.S. I'm still looking into Pale Male's foot.

Pale Male's Swollen Foot, Eldest Takes First Position, and Pip Swallows It Whole

Pale Male's photograph courtesy of palemale.com

I admit it. Since the episode of Violet of Washington Square Park's hugely swollen foot and leg, I find myself automatically scrutinizing Red-tail feet and tarsi.

I was looking at photos of gorgeous angelic Pale Male and eeeeeek! The tarsus and foot of his left appendage are swollen. Not as bad as Violet's thank goodness but certainly bigger than the other side.

Double click the photo above for a larger version and look for yourself. It's his left leg but on the right as you look at the photograph.

My mind immediately flashed on the fact that this is the leg that when sometimes perched on the Linda building he stretches out in front of him with the toes curled in a "fist" and just sits that way for awhile.

Now I'd wondered about that foot before and its strange positioning. I mean he did look very relaxed while doing it. Now I wonder if it eased it somehow? Had I missed a chronic perhaps intermittent condition all this time? He wasn't just relaxing that leg in an odd position for most of the years I've watched him?

I don't know yet but I'm going to try and find out.

Photograph courtesy of Rob Schmunk, Bloomingdale Village blog.
But in the meantime, Rob Schmunk reports that the newest "Eldest" has taken up the Divine nest pre-fledge position for hopping and flapping.

Because of the configuration of the Divine nest site, the eyasses tend to find the best locations within the limited space up there for particular stages of development and as they've chosen well, those locations tend to be the same year after year. As Rob points out the youngest eyass in the group of three is still relegated to the rear area most of the time.

Middle Child will tend to be up near Eldest who is in the pre-fledge position on St. Andrew's hand watching him hop and flap. And may on occasion actually get a chance to use the spot herself when Eldest isn't using it, depending on how long Eldest remains on the nest.

Once Eldest fledges, Middle Child will have first dibs on The Hand, with Youngest looking on.

Eventually Youngest will be up there all by herself and she will not like it.

Why?

Because the main action of the parent's attention will have moved to the trees and to Morningside Park. Oh, Youngest will still be fed well and nurtured, but Isolde will be off the nest much more often than she has been previously, helping Norman with the two that have fledged already.

The last eyass on the nest often but not always makes a decision to fledge, not an accidental swept-off-by-the-wind-exit that may happen to the first eyass. After two have gone Youngest gets the picture that it can be done and if she wants to hang with the family again full time, making the leap is the way to get there fastest.

Oh, and why is the oldest eyass called the newest Eldest? Because when we started out watching the St. John the Divine Cathedral nest, one of the first nestings we watched had two eyasses and they were called Eldest and Youngest. It is interesting how hawk watching traditions concerning a certain nest start, work, and then just--continue.

The best hawk names often say something important about how to identify the holder of the name. With eyasses the names tend toward information about age or size. Unless, of course, like Pip of Washington Square there isn't an issue of telling one from another.

For more about this Divine threesome, click on Rob's link under the photograph above.

Eldest could go off any day now, or last another week and a half. One never does know.


Next up from Robin of Illinois-Pip is now at the stage where she will swallow things whole which rather surprised some watchers of the cam. And I mean a great portion of a whole squirrel for instance.

On occasion this may backfire and the item will be too large and lodge in her throat. Often with the eyass's beak pointed straight up with a portion of the prey sticking out of it.

I remember one instance in which Little of the Trump Parc nest, stood for the longest time after swallowing a complete and fully feathered pigeon wing, with his beak straight up with about 4 inches of a long primary feather jutting up. He was breathing fine, he just couldn't get it down.

It was the first time I'd observed the phenomena and I was horrified that Little would suffacater ore strangle or have so life threatening food mishap. But Charlotte just stood and watched him for what seemed like an eternity before grapping the primary and tugging the whole wing back out for him so he could put his head back into a normal position. Undaunted he immediately did it again.

If this happens to Pip, Violet will allow the stuck prey to stay stuck for some minutes before dragging it out of her throat. There is a lesson to be learned here after all. Some eyasses will just swallow whatever it was whole immediately a second time, upon its removal like Little did. If Pip does this, Violet will then let it stay stuck for a longer period. Eventually pulling it back out, but also eventually the eyass will learn what "too big" to swallow is-- before leaving the nest. Off the nest she won't have the aid of a parent immediately to hand, so it is an important lesson to be learned before taking the big leap.

Watch a feeding in which Pip swallows "it" whole.
http://hawkcam.blogspot.com/


John Blakeman answers many questions about Red-tailed Hawks, in case you missed a chapter here and there. Well worth the read for the new watcher and a refresher for those who may be a bit rusty...

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/121290-hawk-faqs-by-john-blakeman.html

Donegal Browne

Do Red-tails Drink? Violet of Washington Square, Home Depot Duck, and Being Passionate

Photograph courtesy of palemale.com
It's hot up there! Pale Male pants after a trip to the nest. But he and Ginger Lima can fly down and get a nice cool drink from any of Central Park's numerous bodies of water. What about little Alpha who is stuck up there on 927 with the sun glaring down on her?

Photograph courtesy of palemale.com
No water for her. In fact a reader inquired about how the little guys get water in this hot weather. Actually they don't get water.

The first nest of eyasses I watched when I first started watching New York City's urban hawks, was the second clutch of Charlotte and Pale Male Jr., on the Trump Parc nest. Those eyasses were even later in the season than these, I believe. There was a drought that summer and it was excruciatingly hot just watching them, let alone being up on that concrete corbel with no shade whatsoever.

I was anxious about the eyasses, stranded in the sun, no water...

I went home and started looking at the Red-tailed Hawk literature online. It turns out back in 2005, in the published materials which included information on the Red-tails that nest in Alaska to those that nested on cliffs in arid areas, no one had ever seen a Red-tailed Hawk drink. (Well no scientist, who'd published had anyway.) It said right there in black and white that no one knew if Red-tailed Hawks drank, or even bathed for that matter.

How weird. Well, prairie dogs don't drink, maybe Red-tails didn't either.
(The reason you never give a prairie dog a potato chip.)

So the next day, sitting on the Hawk Bench, I asked Marie Winn, author of Red-tails in Love if she knew if they drank. She said, "Ask Anne Shanahan". Anne Shanahan?

It turns out that Anne Shanahan and her camera walked past the Hawk Bench every day but she never stopped. Too shy?

Whatever the case, the next time Marie saw Anne she pointed her out and I trotted after her and asked my question. Actually I'm pretty shy myself so in order for me to do it, I really wanted to know the answer to my question.

It turned out that Anne knew many things that folks who spent much of their time on the Bench didn't know. She walked the Ramble and knew where Pale Male cached food for Lola. She knew the places that Lola ate it. She knew where they took the garbage to throw it away. AND she knew if they drank or not. In fact she had documenting photographs that yes they did drink and they took bathes too, thank you very much.

Not having realized previous to that time how difficult it is to watch rural hawks. No human habituation for them. They're a big GONE. And not having put together that in Central Park there are literally hundreds of sets of eyes most days watching every move that the hawks, or owls , or warblers make. I suddenly realized that that some of the urban hawk watchers with their constant attention, and proximity, knew a whole lot more about Red-tail behavior in the "wild" than likely anyone else in the world. Certainly more than the scientists who'd published knew.

Wow.

It was a revelation.

The next day Anne brought me a series of photographs of Pale Male drinking at Azalea Pond. Yup, he was drinking alright. Leans forward, comes back up beak dripping. That certainly answered that question.

But what about the eyasses and water? This one was in the literature. In fact the literature for all altricial birds. It's not like the parents can fly down and bring a Slurpy back for them. No money and no equipment for carrying water, right? Not quite true, eyasses get all the "water" they need when the parents bring prey to the nest and feed them.

Though the parent Red-tails weren't like Prairie Dogs, the eyasses were. They get the moisture they need from their food.

Evolution is a wonderfully handy thing.

Courtesy of NYU
When last I checked in on Violet and Pip, Violet had actually tucked her head and was having what looked like peaceful hawk sleep. I'm hoping that now she isn't having to crouch so often over Pip that at least a little of the swelling will go down on her bad foot.

Home Depot Duck

In from Jackie of Oklahoma,

BANGOR, Maine -- Aisle one: light bulbs. Aisle two: plumbing supplies. Aisle three: duck.

A mother duck opted to move out of her swamp residence and nestle her home -- eggs and all -- among the gardening supplies inside a Maine Home Depot store.

Instead of escorting the duck off the premises, Home Depot employees have been taking care of the bird and trying to give her some peace of mind.

Read more: http://www.koco.com/family/28108947/detail.html#ixzz1OBpmcEFA

And for those who didn't catch the following link on mariewinnsnaturenews Here is a second chance in case you, like me, have been accused of being too "passionate". Vindication at last.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/29/opinion/29franzen.html?pagewanted=1