The three owls and their mother were all grouped together when I arrived. They seemed a bit more mellow than yesterday, as though they were a little hung over from their coming out party.
A Red-tailed Hawk landed in a tree across the drive and both parents ended up crossing the drive to guard the neighborhood. They both came back over, with one of them making a very low flight.
I didn’t see any eyasses while up at Highbridge Park today, but the female and male spent over twenty minutes looking into the nest. There were two carcasses on the nest, and the mother never got fully down into the nest. So, I would suspect that either hatching was in progress or had just occurred. I think I’ll go back on Sunday to see what’s up.
The three fledglings spent the day in a tree by the West Drive. When I arrived they were alert, watching the hundreds of runners and bike riders using the drive on a beautiful spring day. At dusk, they started to fly around. There were a few missed landings, but they did surprisingly well for their first and second days out.
I had social engagements the last two nights and missed the first two fledges which occurred on Monday.
Tonight, I was lucky to find the two fledglings in the daylight with their parents surrounding them, and later got to see what appears to be the last nestling leave the nest cavity for what I suspect was the first time. Owl watching doesn’t get much better than this.
Enjoy your wings youngsters!
After about thirty minutes, the owlet flies for the first time and we lose track of it.
The hatching window for the 5th Avenue nest is closing. If this year’s nest is another failure, I would suggest that the members of the hawk watching community begin to take responsibility for what to do next rather than continuing to blame the Co-Op, NYC Audubon and/or city and state wildlife officials.
This year, with the excellent leadership by Glenn Phillips, executive director of NYC Audubon, a repair of the nest cradle was undertaken to rule out design problems as a cause for three years of nest failures with the cooperation of the Co-Op and the government. At this point, I think NYC Audubon has fulfilled its obligations. Any new research and any additional changes to the nest, should be funded by the hawk watching community.
I have to be honest and say that I would not contribute funds to any additional fiddling with the nest. I would rather see funds spent on supporting NYC Rehabitators, electing a President who would reverse the current administration’s interpretation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act which allowed the original nest to be destroyed and funding education programs that stress that all areas of this nation are wildlife areas, including our cities and suburban areas.
Enough editorializing, here are some pictures of Pale Male and Lola from Saturday. The pictures on the nest are of Lola and the others are of Pale Male.
The male slept outside today and the female was visible in the cavity most of the day. She let one of the kids have a peak outside at least once during the day.
In the evening, the mother came out early. For the first time, Jean and I were able to see her take a bath in the Loch. My camera was taking pictures of the nestlings, so there are no images. However, take my word for it, we got to watch something simply wonderful. The female got into a shallow portion of the Loch and sat down. She acted like a duck, moving her tail feathers back and forth like Donald Duck in a cartoon. She dipped her head down to get it wet, like a playful Bufflehead. She walked up on shore, rested for a bit and then used her legs to jump as part of her take off from the ground. We watched her dry off and preen, as she moved from tree to tree.
Last Saturday, we had seen her all wet and joked of it as her “Saturday Bath”. It seemed funny that when we actually got to see her bathe, it was the next Saturday, as if she knew about our joke!
During her bathing time, the male was attacking a raccoon and feeding the young.
I went away from the evening feeling privileged to have witness so many
different owl behaviors over the last few months. And to think this is Central Park, New York City!
