When I arrived Rosie had already been relieved of her egg sitting duties by Bobby and had just finished lunch. She returned and swapped with Bobby. After about an hour and a half, Bobby returned to the nest and gave Rosie another break, this time so she could preen which she did on Two Fifth Avenue. Then Rosie returned and Bobby left. He then perched on a building on the west side of the park.
Within the last few weeks there have been four dead Red-tailed Hawks found on the Upper West Side: three in Central Park, and one in Riverside Park. The hawks were:
While necropsy results are still pending, the likelihood that rodenticides were the cause of death is an urban reality.
As hawks have made a comeback in New York City over the last twenty years, we're seeing the issues hawks face living in the Big Apple.
I know from personal experience that we have lots of allies in this effort, including the Parks Department, the Central Park Conservancy, the Department of Health, NYC Audubon, and others. While we figure out how to turn our anger over these deaths into action, we need to be careful not to attack our allies.
This is an incredibly complex issue. A few hundreds raptors in New York City aren't going to limit the rat populations. Controlling rat infestations utilizing methods that have the least potential for negative impact on wildlife is going to take years of incremental change. We'll need the help of all our allies as we tackle long term issues, such as improving sanitation and reducing poison usage.
It isn't publicized enough, but behind the scenes, there are many people working to protect raptors in the city. So, rather than attacking our friends over these deaths, we should approach the Riverside and Central Park staff, not with the question "Why did you kill our hawks?", but with the questions "How can I help you protect our hawks? And what support do you need from me?"
Tonight, I got to see my first exchange (pair swapping egg sitting duties) of the 2012 season at Washington Square. It was great to see Bobby sitting on the eggs.
During Rosie’s break, she few around the park, looked to be hunting and found what looked like leftovers.
NYU confirmed with a press release that there was an egg seen in the Washington Square nest on Tuesday. Usually hawk watchers can only guess that the eggs were laid based on behavioral changes, so it was nice to have confirmation.
The hawks were together on the nest when I arrived, before I could get my gear set up, so no pictures.
Bobby disappeared after it got dark, but I found him at 6:30 p.m. on the nest making a brief visit. He then flew off to his regular “hotel” roost at 6:35. It was pitch black when he went to roost.
While I’ve been keeping track of the nest this week, the Roger Paw blog has been following Bobby in the park this week, generally at the same time I have. I would recommend following both our blogs to get both perspectives on the Washington Square nest.
Rosie seemed glued to the nest this evening, much more than last night. It’s hard to know if egg laying has begun but there’s a good chance it may have started. We’ll know more over the next few days.
Rosie was on the nest from 5:00 to 6:00 tonight, and looked to be staying there all night. Bobby made a few visits after 5:30 before going to roost. I don’t think eggs have been laid yet, but we should expect them shortly.
