An A.P. wire-story about Pale Male and Lola, picked up nationwide, stated that the Red-tail pair have abandoned their Fifth Avenue nest and have switched to the Beresford building at 81st and Central Park West.  I’m sure a naive reporter after seeing reports of the nest/egg abandonment at 5th Avenue, pictures of Pale Male carrying twigs on Lincoln Karim’s website and reports of the hawks spending their time on the Beresford, jumped to an improper conclusion in order to have an excuse to write a story about the rich and famous.

It’s important not to mix these three concepts, perches, roosts and nest,  when discussing Red-tailed Hawks.  The dictionary defines them as:

perch, noun, a thing on which a bird alights or roosts, typically a branch or a horizontal rod or bar in a birdcage.

roost, noun, a place where birds regularly settle or congregate to rest at night, or where bats congregate to rest in the day.

nest, noun, a structure or place made or chosen by a bird for laying eggs and sheltering its young.

For Red-tailed Hawks, these are three very distinct things. 

Pale Male and Lola have a number of perches, including two favorite places on the towers of the Beresford.  For years, they’ve spent many an afternoon at the Beresford, especially during the winter months.

Pale Male and Lola usually roost overnight in trees.  The exception is during nesting season, when Lola will sleep on the nest from about a week before she lays her eggs until a day or two after her children fledge.

For Red-tails a nest is a place to raise their young.  Outside of nesting season, they will check up on it daily, but it is not a place they will usually perch or sleep in.

Pale Male and Lola’s increased use of the Beresford is just business as usual.  We’ll only know if they’re going to switch nest sites in February.  Until then, don’t write off 5th Avenue.

I’m late, I’m late
For a very important date
No time to say “Hello”, “Goodbye”
I’m late, I’m late, I’m late

I run and then I hop hop hop. I wish that I could fly. There’s danger if I dare to stop, and here’s the reason why

You see, I’m overdue, I’m in a rabbit stew. Can’t even say goodbye, hello
I’m late, I’m late, I’m late

Lyrics from I’m Late from Disney’s Alice in Wonderland.

Lola has been sitting on her nest longer than any successful year.  In years past she has sat on the nest anywhere between 35-41 days before her eggs hatched.  This could be a sign of another failure, or just a fluke.   Since the Fifth Avenue hawk watchers can’t tell when eggs are laid, they count from when the female starts to stay on the nest.  It’s possible, especially with a recently rebuilt nest, that she just started sitting on the nest without eggs earlier and all is fine.

The Fifth Avenue nest had hundreds of observers on Saturday.  Many first time watchers stumbled onto the “hawk bench” while taking part in Easter activities in the park.  (The “hawk  bench” has great view of the nest, which during this season has lots of telescopes, including a power Meade telescope connected to a video camera/monitor generously provided by Lincoln Karim, www.palemale.com.)

Old timers were there looking to see if the chicks had hatched yet.  The old timers have reasonable concerns since last year’s eggs failed to hatch. 

Pale Male (the male Red-tailed Hawk) has a history of his first year nests failing, so after the nest was removed in the early winter of 2004/5, it was not surprising that the 2005 nest failed.  Whether the nest was too small to keep the eggs insulated, the stress of building a new nest or possible punctures by the pigeon spikes in the nest are all possible reasons for first year failures.

The new nest cradle, added as a compromise over safety, might also be a problem.  So, all eyes are on the nest.  The hatching window is anytime in the next week or so.  Hopefully, good news will be reported soon.

When I arrived in the late afternoon, Lola (the female, nesting Red-tailed Hawk), was very active.