This morning, the Riverside Red-tailed Hawk nest fell down. A sign posted to a railing near the nest stated that the nest fell at 10:45 a.m. and two eyasses were recovered and set to Audubon.
The toxicology results of the first eyas recovered should be returned in about two weeks. This will help determine what occurred last Friday.
Both parents were on the The Normandy at 140 Riverside Drive this evening. One on each tower.
It was a nice evening. The owls were back in their regular tree and used the jungle gym of fallen trees near the stream. The fledglings spent time on the ground and by the stream bed.
Owl watching is getting a lot harder. We couldn’t find them in any of the standard roost trees this evening. It took quite awhile for us to find them. Picture taking was next to impossible. While this is disappointing for me, it is a great sign that the young owls are becoming more and more independent.
Of the eight known nests in Manhattan, here’s their status this week…
5th Avenue, nest failure. Lola has stopped sitting on the eggs.
888 Seventh Avenue, uncertain.
St. John the Divine, feeding behavior has started, but no eyasses visible, which isn’t unusual for this nest.
Highbridge Park, two eyasses
Inwood Hill Park, three eyasses
South Riverside Park, death of three chicks. (Updated: 5-13-08. The necrospy at the DEC Pathology unit of one of the chicks showed acute hemorrhaging of the lungs. This discovery makes secondary poisoning the most likely cause of death, although hypothermia is still a posibility. Further tests will be carried out to try and identify the anticoagulant or other possible toxins. Thank you, Lincoln Karim, for taking the chick up to Dr. Stone’s lab.)
Houston Street, three eyasses.
Shepard Hall, City College, nest is too difficult to observe to be sure.
It was an interesting evening. One of the fledglings had a bird with it at dusk and was busy eating it before the fly out. Then the young owls spent a great deal of time on the ground. I think the parents are starting to encourage them to hunt and forage for themselves.
On Saturday, after a severe spring rain storm on Friday, there were no sightings of the eyasses and very erratic behavior from the parents.
The parents spent a great deal of time off the nest and flying to nearby trees. On at least two occasions the adult female went through the motions of feeding the young, but had not response from the nestlings.
This nest which was typical of a young couple’s first nest. It was in a bad location, and on an unstable set of branches. It always seemed like an accident waiting to happen.
I hope our failure to see the eyasses today was only due to them being exhausted from the tossing and turning in the wind and rain on Friday, but I feel that something much worse may have happened.
We should know more on Sunday.
Update: On Sunday, the mother removed a dead eyas from the nest. The eyas will be sent to Ward Stone at the NYS DEC to determine the cause of death. The other two eyasses are also presumed to have died as well.
