Copulation? Attempted Copulation?

New Guy looking---just what expression is that? Did he copulate with Isolde successfully and is stunned, or was he unsuccessful and is now humiliated and horrified?

3:29PM As I walk up Cathedral Hill two Red-tailed hawks, both flapping, zoom to the east just south of Cathedral House.
3:44PM A Red-tail comes out of Morningside Park, to west through the trees, towards windows of Plant Pavilion, and lands on air conditioner already occupied. View obscured by tree branches, I hear the Red-tail "gull calls" that are heard during some kinds of begging and during copulation. Both birds same spot, some wing flapping, brief interlude. Copulation? An attempt at copulation? Had it been Isolde and Tristan I'd say definite copulation but the above bird certainly isn't Tristan. Though that doesn't rule copulation out at this point.


3:46:39PM Male on the left and female on the right looking at each other. Interesting. It looks like eye contact. But they both may just be keeping watch in opposite directions.


3:53:31PM At this point I'm thinking this is Isolde but I'm not positive. I've not seen the belly band and in fact I've not seen Isolde for some time.


3:57:39PM New Guy takes off to the west into Morningside Park.


4:01:28PM Female watches sparrows on sidewalk.


Female looks out at park. I notice her eyes.


In this light the iris of the eye can be seen to be a different color from the pupil. She doesn't seem to be shifting at all so I can see the band therefore I figure I should shift in an attempt to make the ID.


4:15:41PM As I shift she slightly shifts as well opening herself up. Her head color comes down on the shoulder and breast as is the case with Isolde. The belly band is similar. (When I get home I email Rob of http://bloomingdalevillage.blogspot.com/ and he confirms Isolde. With the state of flux with the Cathedral Hawks one can never be too careful.)


4:18:50PM Rob and I have decided that there just might be some problem with the insulation around these air conditioners. A similar situation to the spot Doorstep Dove uses in Wisconsin by the patio door. There is a warm air flow through the cracks.

Isolde at times looks tired and stressed today.


4:22:35PM


4:24:44PM Gary, a local security guard who has been looking for Tristan or his remains, watches as Isolde goes south through the treeline. What I don't understand is that no one I talked to, and it was a fair number of people who searched today, has not even found a feather. Even if the body was predated by feral cats, or drug off by the local opossum, there should be a good number of hawk feathers laying somewhere.


4:30:46 Look carefully between the two tree trunks. There is a Red-tail soaring and circling above the park.


4:30:57PM And there are two Red-tails circling with each other here, though impossible to see in this size. See below.


See the two pale spots slightly high and center.


4:38PM Isolde returns but now she's sitting on the left AC where New Guy was previously sitting.


4:39PM Isolde watches something in particular.


4:42PM Red-tail comes out of park curves back into treeline and flies N
4:44PM Isolde comes off AC and follows N in treeline. I lose sight of her at about 117th. I remember Rob saying something about a "usual roosting spot" up there. I head north.


4:48:52PM As I walk toward 117th, there are a number of territorial type birds, Mockers and Blue Jays sitting on the stone fence seemingly looking west. This Mockingbird took time out from looking west to glare at me.


Then he goes back to fixedly looking west. I don't see any Red-tails to the west. In fact I don't see any Red-tails anywhere. And as it's getting darn cold out here, at a few minutes after 5:00 I head back down Cathedral Hill and towards home.


Donegal Browne

FAREWELL TO TRISTAN--AT LEAST FOR NOW

TRISTAN OF THE CATHEDRAL NEST

When I opened my email late this evening there were emails from Rob and James about finally being able to confirm that the second hawk with Isolde was not Tristan. More on that to come, but first a farewell to Tristan. Though like I said, at least for now. We have not found Tristan and there is a small chance he may be cooling his talons at a rehabilitator who we don't know. I've heard that Pale Male once took another mate while his previous one was laid up, as Ben Cacace of the Nova Hunter blog is wont to say, "Never underestimate a Red-tail."

Tristan too has lost at least one mate in the past, and Isolde was her replacement. Now Isolde will choose someone new. At least we do not have to watch Isolde fade away from grief as I have heard is the case with some species of geese.

Small, he's a male after all, but scrappy Tristan on the left and big beautiful Isolde on the right This was the day both Crows and Kestrels attacked them and their nest of three eyasses. They were quite the team. They worked together perfectly. Their communication was astounding. And at the end of the day, all were safe and uninjured including themselves.

There was something about Tristan that sometimes made me laugh. He seemed so--well, calm for a hawk. In fact there were some who felt that Isolde was a better hunter of pigeons. Tristan brought in his share, but Tristan's forte was rats. Big juicy evening rats But when he wasn't hunting but rather standing guard he could be such a very laid back hawk. Rather like, why get excited unless something shows up to be excited about.

And then there was that signature raised foot.

Sometimes visible, sometimes not, but more often than not UP.

When first I started watching The Divines I was nearly convinced his foot was injured. After days of scrutiny, I finally realized, he's relaxed and he likes to be comfortable.

Tristan was a beak-on kind of Dad. Last season after an exhausted Isolde would leave the nest for a break after having been trampled by three eyasses for most of the day, Tristan would first offer her the prey, if she didn't take it, he then went off to the nest and deftly fed the eyasses their last meal of the day. And didn't he and Isolde produce and train wonderful young Red-tails?

Fearless.

Stalwart. (Just look at that bird's "healthy" feet.)

And sometimes very funny.

So vivat for Tristan's life, and for his willingness to share it with us. We have been blessed. Rob called this particular perch, Tristan's Urn, at one point today. It's the urn on the SE corner of the Plant Pavilion. And that I think is a fitting memorial as Tristan did spend so much attentive time there guarding his family. From now on at least for me, and in my reports, that will always be, Tristan's Urn.

Godspeed Tristan.

Photograph Robert Schmunk

The "New Guy" in town sits next to a slightly ruffled Isolde. He did land, as Rob mentions, without a treat. Though he does seem to have a yearning look on his face.

Here is Rob's email--

(Both he and James O'Brien have reports on today's doings, their links follow Rob's email.)

James and I got a good look at two adult hawks today along
Morningside when they perched on a hospital window railing.

The first one to fly in looked like Isolde. The second a couple minutes
later and after teasing us for a couple minutes by perching with his
back to us, he finally turned around. Both James and I immediately
said "new guy".

He's got a heavy belly band, heavier than Isolde's. (Hers isn't
exactly heavy, but was in comparison's to Tristan's.) He also has
light colored eyes, so he may just be 2 years old.

New guy needs to learn to bring treats though.

rbs

Great extended reports and photos about the "New Guy" at Rob's Blog http://bloomingdalevillage.blogspot.com/

And James O'Brien's Origin of the Species Blog--http://yojimbot.blogspot.com/

Donegal Browne

Cathedral Hawk Update and John Blakeman Answers my Questions about Lost Mates--Just in Case.

Photo:D.B.
Isolde atop Gabriel's wing on the roof of St. John's, last season.

In regard to the possibly missing Tristan, the male of the Cathedral Nest pair--

I'd emailed Hawk Watcher Stella Hamiliton about the fact that there had been an injured hawk sighted in Morningside Park last week and we hadn't had a confirmed sighting of Tristan in some days. Stella works in the area of the Cathedral Nest, if at a bit of a distance, and she is very sharped eyed when it comes to Red-tails. She's the one who discovered that Pale Male and Lola spend time over at the Beresford.

Stella called me this afternoon. Her vantage point, is a window in the hospital where she works. She spent her lunch hour watching the Cathedral and any other spare moment she could find which were few. Her only sighting was of a single hawk perched on the stature of Gabriel on the roof of the cathedral. She surmised it was Isolde but it wasn't a 100% confirmation.

She'll keep looking, as will Rob Schmunk, and we hope to have it all sorted out soon.

As I said before, keep your fingers crossed.

Next a response from expert John Blakeman,

I asked John Blakeman’s opinion on a few questions pertaining to Red-tail behavior.

The first, whether Red-tails would predate Peregrine eyasses on the nest if they could get away with it?

And second, if a Red-tail should loose his or her mate—

a. Would the bird realize the mate was dead if he or she saw the mate’s body?
b. How long would it take the remaining Red-tail to take a new mate?


Here's what John had to say---

Donna,

Would a Red-tail kill an eyass Peregrine? Sure would. A Red-tail sees no difference between a pigeon squab on a ledge and a helpless little peregrine eyass. Of course, the stooping peregrine parents will make a difference. A hungry Red-tail will not miss seeing a stooping falcon overhead. It's not a matter of whether Red-tails will prey upon Peregrine eyasses. It's a matter of whether the Peregrine parents will stoop at the intruding big, lumbering Red-tail. In virtually every case, they will.

A more crucial factor in wild Peregrine nests, in those in the range of Great-horned Owls, is nest predation by these night-flying monsters. Peregrine restoration efforts have always aimed at restoring wild, rural, cliff-nesting Peregrines. Initially, as so well known in greater New York, the falcons took up nesting residencies on buildings and bridges. The original wild Peregrine aeries along the Hudson, at the Palisades and other cliff sites, remained un-occupied for many years. The same thing occurred at traditional Peregrine nest sites along the Mississippi and at other Midwestern cliffs.

Then, a few years ago, a few of the old traditional wild peregrine nests became occupied. Offspring from the many urban Peregrine nests finally began to be attracted to the original wild nest sites. Falcon restorationists were legitimately gratified.

Unfortunately, Great-horned Owls cleaned out virtually every Peregrine aerie. For a time, it appeared the Peregrines might not be able reoccupy traditional wild nest sites because of the big owl.

But in recent years eyasses have been fledged from wild cliff aeries. It appears that the first colonizing falcon parents, having "grown up" in urban areas, were rather unaware of the lethal intents of local owls. The parents were too inattentive regarding these silent but lethal giants. Now, however, they have learned and keep a keen eye out for Great-horned Owls. They harass or kill these birds when spotted. The owls have recognized the danger and now avoid Peregrine nest areas. Finally, Peregrines have learned how to successfully fledge eyasses from wild cliff nests. It's a great conservation success.

It's also interesting to note what may be an undescribed physiological factor. Peregrines have inordinately large eyes. And more significantly, in ways that aren't yet clear, they are able to capture small birds flying in the dead of night. Here at an Ohio Peregrine nest at Toledo, researchers were amazed on a number of occasions to record at sundown every food remnant at the aerie. Then, the next morning, they checked to see if anything changed over night.

Inexplicably, sunrise food surveys at the nest frequently showed new dead birds and feathers which had been captured in the dead of night. Consequently, the adults were radio-tagged, so they could be followed. Stunningly, they would fly NE out over Maumee Bay and out over night-black Lake Erie, where they apparently were plucking night-flying migrant birds.

We know that European Kestrels, and almost surely, American ones, too, can see up into the ultra-violet spectrum. It may be that Peregrines can also see down into the infra-red spectrum, which would allow them to see heat-glowing little dickey-birds flying across Lake Erie to Ontario in the dead of night.

If that's so, they could also see a lumbering, infra-red glowing Great-horned Owl flying silently through the night sky -- whereupon it could get its vertebrae crushed in a 100-mph night-time stoop.

For whatever reason, Great-horned Owls are now only very infrequent killers of nest-bound Peregrine eyasses.

About new mates in Red-tail pairs where a bird dies or flies off. No, I don't think the remaining mate cognitively "knows" that its mate has died, even if it sees the dead carcass. Instead, it's the absence of the mate's pair-bonding behaviors that control things. Without the mate flying around at close quarters, sitting on nearby perches, and working at the nest, the remnant bird then begins to begin to behaviorally "connect" with new "floaters" that so quickly drift into the territory.

"Floaters" are full adults, but unmated. Reproductive hormones affect them exactly as with mated birds. And it seems that there is a somewhat hidden or phantom population of floaters circulating perhaps widely between mated-pair territories in winter. For Red-tails and a number of other diurnal raptors, it is well known that upon the death of a pair member, a new mate can come into the territory and begin mating, nesting, and copulating duties within just a few days.

I noted yesterday that it appears that Tristan, one of "The Divines" at the cathedral north of Central Park is missing, presumed dead. If so, most unfortunate. But I wouldn't be surprised if a new Tristan II makes an appearance this week or so. (Perhaps the name should remain "Tristan," but with the program indicating that this year, the role will be played by a new understudy.)

[Rob Schmunk may have seen Tristan with Isolde since that report. D.B.]

The death of adult hawk pair members is a part of hawk life. The birds are able to quickly adapt. Things will work out, just as they did so often when Pale Male lost a mate.

--John Blakeman