Cheryl Cavert on Tulsa's Art Deco Red-tailed Hawks

Photo by Cheryl Cavert
From Tulsa hawkwatcher and photographer Cheryl Cavert--
A few days ago I spotted a hawk again at Boston Avenue UMC on the glass panels at the very top of the tower.

Photo by Cheryl Cavert
I went back the next morning and again spotted a hawk perched high, near the top right below the glass panels.


Photo by Cheryl Cavert
The coloring looked a little different than the one I had seen a week earlier-lighter eyes and paler belly band.



Photo by Cheryl Cavert
I looked around and a block away on a cell tower, was the other adult!

Hopefully over the next few months I can track down their nesting site and will send on any updates of Tulsa's RT hawks.
-Cheryl

Hurrah! Go Cheryl. I can't wait for any news. If they choose the church it is a beautiful place for a nest to be photographed. Though as we've found with the taller buildings in NYC, the angles and sightlines can sometimes be tough for observation but well worth the effort.

Not to jump too far ahead but I was wondering that if the hawks did nest successfully on the church, what is the area on ground level like for fledglings coming off the nest? Is there a green space?

What about walk by traffic of pedestrians who might turn into guardians or new budding hawkwatchers?

Have you had a chance to note what prey are in the area?

And lastly, Edward of Dallas very much liked your photographs and asked what kind of camera and set up you use to get them.

Donegal Browne

Red-tail Update-Odom on Charlotte of South Central Park, Cavert on the Art Deco Tulsa OK Hawk

Photograph by Christine Pittet
2009-Charlotte, Pale Male Jr's mate,
of the Southern Central Park Redtails


Photograph by Donegal Browne
2005-Charlotte and 2 eyasses on the Trump Parc nest

When I was contacted about the identity of the hawk in the top photograph, I identified her as Charlotte, but I also sent off an email to Brett Odom, who is one of the chief watchers of that pair these days for his opinion.

Here is Brett Odom's answer--

Hi Donna,

While I have never been so close to Charlotte as this picture has been taken, given the location and the very dark coloration of the body and the bright redness of the tail, I would agree that it is Charlotte.

I would be curious to know where Junior goes during the winter. It always unnerves me when he is gone.

Have you read the book Wesley the Owl by Stacey OBrien? I read it while on my honeymoon last month. It was a very interesting and insightful book about Barn Owls. There is a website at http://www.wesleytheowl.com/ if you have not already checked it out.

Brett Odom


http://web.mac.com/brettodom/

Thanks Brett! I too feel uneasy when a hawk disappears for the winter. This is an interesting case because in the other pairs in which one member takes a winter vacation in my experience so far it has been the female.

Some of Pale Male's mates disappeared during the colder months and Kay of the KJRH TV nest also took a lengthy sabbatical last winter. Red-tail expert John Blakeman has told us that as the female requires more calories than the male that they are likely to go south where the snow is less deep for easier hunting in order to fulfill their larger caloric requirements. Their other half , the smaller male, stays behind, guards the territory, and can often do well enough on the existing food supply. I also have the feeling that Mrs. M and Mrs. Steam also take a winter holiday from from the cold and deep snow here in WI.

It has been suggested that one of Pale Male's mates went to New Jersey for the winter as that may have been her natal ground. Particularly as Central Park tends to collect extra Red-tails in the winter due to the deep level of prey one would think there wouldn't be much of a reason to skedaddle other then to truly get out of town, take a vacation, and perhaps partake of the prey animals that Central Park doesn't support such as rabbits and voles.

If Junior is actually one of Pale Male's progeny his natal territory would be only a few blocks north of his own territory, and certainly someone would see him and recognize him with so many hawk watching eyes in that part of the park. So my thought is-- might he possibly be going back to the place where he spent time between when he left his parents and then returned to Central Park as a sexually mature bird and carved out his territory. Or perhaps it truly is a vacation. And Pale Male Jr. takes the time to escape the day to day and explore other parts of the world.

Which makes me even more nervous about his absence now that I think of it. But whatever he is doing, he has been doing it for years (He is a very experienced crafty little hawk after all) and one of the joys of the new breeding season is when someone reports the first sighting of Junior in the new season.

Photo by Cheryl Cavert

The latest installment of Cheryl Cavert's Tulsa Red-tail update--
A couple of weeks ago while heading into downtown Tulsa,

Photo by Cheryl Cavert
I spotted a Red-tail hawk on Boston Avenue United Methodist Church.


Photo by Cheryl Cavert
It it is a 20th Century Art Deco masterpiece that is on the National Register of Historic Places and is designated a National Historic Landmark.


Photo by Cheryl Cavert
Its tower is 15 stories - 225 feet high!


Photo by Cheryl Cavert
These are a few views of the hawk at Boston Avenue UMC, Tulsa OK.

Thanks Cheryl! This building and it's possibilities for a nest site remind me of the Trump Parc in NYC where Charlotte and Pale Male Jr. had a successful nest in 2005. (See second photo from the top.)

Come breeding season this is one place in which I would camp out and watch to see if Red-tails are trading places some where on it.

In your long shot the hawk is perched on a form which obscures from sight and shields from the weather what may be the flat top of a pillar. A real possibility for a nest, be sure to check that out while you're waiting for some hawk flights in and out.

Tulsa has some wonderful opportunities for Hawkwatching. Enjoy!

Donegal browne

Tulsa Red-tails-Cavert's 2009 Juvenile Roundup, Langenheim Park

Photograph by Cheryl Cavert
Another installment from Tulsa's Cheryl Cavert about Tulsa's 2009 Red-tailed juveniles with some wonderful photographs--

One Sunday morning in July, I spotted one of the Langenheim Park juvies across the street from the park, calling out hungrily. When I had parked and gotten out, the juvie was on a building on one side of the street and a parent was across the street on another building. As I was looking into the sun, I decided to walk around one of the buildings to get the sun behind me but did not want to walk between the hawks. As I rounded the building, I could hear lots of juvie calls, ending with a loud screech. When I first came around the corner, the sight of the juvie in the street alarmed me - until I saw the rat peeking out.

Photograph by Cheryl Cavert
The parent watched from an overhead power line while the juvie tried to get control of the rat and figure out what to do with it next.


Photograph by Cheryl Cavert
I stood guard at the corner to slow any cars turning onto the street.


Photograph by Cheryl Cavert
(This stance so reminds me of a domestic cat, another predator. D. B.)


Photograph by Cheryl Cavert
After about ten minutes, one did turn in slowly hugging the opposite side of the road but the juvie flew off to the park. I followed the juivie over to the park and started walking amongst the trees, wondering how far it had flown off. Then the juvie started calling out again in some trees to my left, a loud screech-and the rat fell out of the tree!!!!! Of course shortly followed by the juvie who once again tried to figure out what to do with it before flying off with the now limp rat towards the creek and more trees.

NEXT- Introducing another RT Hawk neighbor to the north of Kay and Jay!!!
Cheryl