Randalls Island
I made a trip to Randalls Island on Sunday afternoon. The nest is in the field lights of Field 10, just north of Icahn Stadium. I found two eyasses on the nest and the mother on a light tower of Icahn Stadium.
2019 Manhattan Red-tailed Hawk Nest Update 9
Eyasses are being seen all over Manhattan:
- Jessica Ancker reports that “one fuzzy-headed eyass in the IHP [Inwood Hill Park] nest”.
- Robert’s Morningside Hawks blog has photographs of one eyass at St. John the Divine.
- Pam Langford saw an eyass in the Fort Washington nest.
- I found two eyasses on the Randalls Island nest this afternoon.
That brings Manhattan up to 11 surviving eyasses for the year.
2019 Manhattan Red-tailed Hawk Nest Update 8
News since the last update:
- Pam Langford reports seeing a feeding at the Fort Washington nest.
- The 350 Central Park West nest seems to have been abandoned. The cold, wet weather may have been the cause. In my two visits, I saw neither parent but Stella Hamilton saw one of them in a tree a block from the nest on Wednesday. It would be nice if we could confirm that both parents are still alive.
- St. John and 310 West 72nd Street both look to have hatched based on parental behavior, but feedings haven’t been seen yet. Both nests are difficult to observe.
- Pale Male and Octavia’s nest is too long overdue for a hatch.
Math Problem For Pale Male and Octavia
Although I hope I’m wrong, I can’t get the math to work out for Pale Male and Octavia.
Octavia started sitting on the nest on March 17th. When you calculate a hatch date, you start with 28-35 days for incubation, add a few days just in case the female starts sitting before laying eggs, and add a week more since the eggs can take a week to lay, and if only the last one hatches it will be later. That’s at worst case, 35 plus 14 days, or May 5th. Today is May 15th.
The “regulars” who follow Pale Male and Octavia year round didn’t see them copulate this season.
So, the nest most likely won’t hatch.
When Lola was infertile, she would sit for a long time on the nest before giving up each year. I think we’re seeing the same thing with Octavia this year.
Troubling Signs At 350 Central Park West
When I visited the 350 Central Park West nest on May 9th, everything seemed fine. The mother was feeding, the father nearby and three healthy eyasses were popping up.
On Tuesday, I saw no signs of life in the nest and no sign of the parents. I stayed for over an hour in a light rain. While it is possible that the eyasses have grown enough for the parents to leave them alone for an extended period of time, it seems odd this early in the season.
I will revisit the nest soon, but we should prepare ourselves for bad news about this nest.
310 West 72nd Street
The female was high on the 310 West 72nd Street nest when I arrived. But I couldn’t tell for sure if the nest had hatched. This is one of the most difficult nests in Manhattan to observe. It might be June before we figure out how the nest is doing.
