I was hoping for a glimpse at a 5th Avenue eyass today, but they’re still too small.  I suspect this Memorial Day weekend will be a better time to visit.

I received some comments about the previous years nest failures.  It was suggested that in addition to the possibility of Lola being infertile over the last few years, it still could have been the cradle.  The hypothesis being that after all these years the nest was finally built up high enough to prevent drafts/heat loss from the metal cradle.  While this is a possibility, there have been a number of successful fire escape and air conditioner nests in the New York City area over the last few years.  Since most of these nests worked their first year, and were similar to the cradle, I would place my bets on Lola being the problem.  The nest isn’t that much higher than last year, and the biggest variable that changed was Lola being replaced by another mate.

In my post two days ago about signs that show a nest has hatched, I forgot about another way hawk watchers know there are eyasses on the nest.  The eyasses “slice”, or in layman’s terms defecate.  I recorded this twice on Sunday afternoon, so absolutely, positively the nest has hatched.

I started hawk watching after the Fifth Avenue nest had been taken down, so this will be my first real Fifth Avenue season. It will be fun to observe the nest that started serious hawk watching in New York City.

The hatch vindicates Marie Winn, the Park’s Department and NYC Audubon for their compromise with the co-op to put up the nest cradle.  When the nest failed to produce offspring, everyone’s conjecture was it was most likely the cradle, and possibly Pale Male’s advanced age, but very few suggested it might have been Lola.   So, to Marie Winn, the Park’s Department and NYC Audubon a very, belated thank you.

When a Red-tailed Hawk nest hatches, long before the eyasses are visible to observers a few behavior changes take place.

• The mother will eat on the nest rather than flying off to a nearby location to eat
• Both parents will spend time waking around the edge of the nest looking down into the nest
• The mother will tear up small pieces of food and appear to be feeding young

I received reports that all three changes appeared to take place today on Fifth Avenue.  It's too early to know for sure if the nest has hatched but all signs are positive.

I'm still on vacation but will be back on Sunday to make a first hand report.

Hawk watchers on Fifth Avenue have limited expectations about the nest being successful this year.  After years of Pale Male and Lola having fertility problems, there are small hopes that Lima (Lincoln Karim’s name for the new female, that seems to be the now generally recognized name for the Dark Female/Ginger) might have better luck with Pale Male.

The hatch window starts around May 10th and will continue for about ten days.  Don’t expect much news if things continue to go wrong, but expect one hell of a party if there is a hatch.

Pale Male was in some trees north of the Model Boat Pond when I arrived from Riverside Park late this afternoon.  He soon flew to a “Linda” building railing and took advantage of the late afternoon sun.  The dark female was on the nest and looked very settled in.  Much more so, that the fidgety days of last week.

It looks like egg laying has started on Fifth Avenue, but the mother is acting a little inexperienced.  She stood and preened after sunset for at least half an hour tonight.  She may not have laid all of her eggs yet so “no worries”, but the behavior seemed out of place.  I guess we have a young mother. 

This is going to be a fun season.  I suspect everything will be slightly different now that we have a new female.