Photo courtesy of NYT HawkCam 2012
From PonDove, a chief observer of the Washington Square Nest and a moderator of the NYTimes Hawk Chat Room.
Dear Hawk Friends,
As you may have heard, the NY Times will not be hosting the NYU hawk cam this year. John Blakeman, 14th and I have been working with NYU to try to find a way to keep it going. There is one egg since Wednesday and I am awaiting an update, as eggs are laid every 2 or 3 days.
The good news is that NYU has decided to put a camera up! I didn't get a specific date but will know soon...all I was told was that a week or more. Not that much to see while Rosie is incubating for the nextweek, so that's OK.
The important thing is that they said yes!!
So stay tuned and John Blakeman, 14th and I will keep you abreast of the date as things progress.
Thanks to everyone for being part of this amazing cam! It will be great to see everyone again from the past 2 seasons! I am so thankful to President Sexton for once again allowing us to share this wonderful experience.
Maybe triplets this time?! We'll know soon!
Love, Pon
Many thanks to PonDove, John Blakeman and 14 for their efforts in getting a Washington Square Hawk Cam up and running for 2013. Washington Square won't be HawkCam-less after all!
And a big Huzzah!, for President Sexton and NYU!
Happy Hawking!
Donegal Browne
Photo courtesy of palemale.com.
Pale Male, (left), Octavia (right)
Do you remember that in one of the emails from NYC Hawkwatcher Katherine Herzog, she mentioned how huge Octavia is.
I believe Kat compared her wing span to that of almost a Turkey Vulture in comparison to your usual Red-tailed Hawk wing span.
And Kat wasn't exaggerating! Look above at the size and wing span difference between she and Pale Male!
The rule of thumb is that in reverse sexual dimorphism in hawks that the female is about a third larger than the male.
Agreed, Pale Male, is a smaller swifter model of a Red-tail male, but still Octavia is hugely larger than he in comparison.
Also a heads up, both hawks have been seen bringing bark to the nest to line the bowl. It won't be long now before Octavia will be up there on 927 Fifth Avenue full time!
Sally of Kentucky asks if Downtown Male might be Pale Male Jr? It is possible as that was his previous territory but though this hawk does look like Pale Male facially, I think he may be a little darker than Junior though I'd have to watch him in person to be sure one way or the other. Junior had a way of holding his body that is distinctive.
Also keep in mind that the newest research found that Red-tailed Hawks often return to their natal territory to nest. Therefore Downtown Male might be a hawk that came from a nest of Charlotte and Junior's or even Pale Male and Lola's nest on Fifth Avenue.
Happy Hawking!
P.S. Scroll down for a previous posting from earlier this evening.
Donegal Browne
Photo courtesy of The Alex Foundation, http://www.alexfoundation.org/index2.htm
Arthur, aka Wart, an African Grey Parrot, age 14, has died from Avian Bornavirus which is presumed to be the causative factor in PDD, Proventricular Dilatation Disease, which is fatal.
Wart was currently the youngest research colleague of Dr. Irene Pepperberg, a pioneer in avian cognition. Wart worked with Dr. Pepperberg at The Parrot Lab at Brandeis University and The Alex Foundation.
He will be sorely missed.
The life expectancy in this species is said to be fifty plus years.
For more on Arthur...
http://alexfoundation.org/2013/03/08/arthur/
Sadly even now the work done by female scientists is woefully underfunded compared with that of their male counterparts.
And keep in mind that what we know from observation of individual Red-tailed Hawks will gain more credence when other individual birds, even those of other species which are adaptive thinkers, gain recognition for their mental acumen and therefore their deaths by secondary rat poisoning will become unacceptable to many more people until a tipping point is reached and it is unacceptable to all.
To help keep the work going...
http://alexfoundation.org/donate
Donegal Brown
