A Nest Exchange on 5th Avenue
Pale Male brought take out to Lola and gave her a break early on Wednesday evening.
Monday, 4-14-08
I arrived later than usual, having been tied up photographing Lola. The male was just about to leave the cavity and I just got a few shots before he did. He was taking out the trash again. I’m not sure what it was this time.
The female soon appeared and didn’t take long to leave. Tonight, I followed her, rather than watching for signs of nestlings. She made lots of calls in front of the nest and to the side of the nest. It seems as though she is encouraging the nestlings to come out of the nest. I wonder what happens after we leave!
An Early Evening with Lola
I arrived at the hawk bench a little too late to see Pale Male give Lola a break. She was out and about and was assumed to be hunting.
After about fifteen minutes a hawk, which I assumed was Lola moved north moving from tree to tree along the west edge of the Model Boat Pond. The hawk went after a pigeon, but it wasn’t clear if it got anything. When I got home and looked at my pictures, I discovered the hawk was an immature hawk with a light eye color and brown tail!
Lola had made her way to Cedar Hill and was joined by Pale Male for a moment. I wondered why he left the nest. I guess he was helping guide the young hawk away or maybe he was showing Lola a cached piece of prey.
Lola stayed for quite awhile on Cedar Hill eating a squirrel (graphic pictures of this follow). When I left she still hadn’t returned to the nest and was on a 5th Avenue building around 78th Street.
Sunday, 4-13-07
It was a nice evening. Not as warm as yesterday, but not too cold. Both adults traded places in the cavity before flying out. At least two nestlings are in the cavity.
One of the owls “barked” loudly at a Towhee just before fly out, moving up and down frantically.
After fly out, the mother called for a great deal of time from just in front of the cavity. I think she may be enticing the children to fledge or at least explore the cavity’s edge, but I can’t be sure.
The next two weeks should be lots of fun after all of our waiting.
Pale Male and Lola Countdown
If the repairs worked on Pale Male and Lola’s nest, we should have eyasses any day now. After three years without kids however, expectations are tempered. Let’s hope for the best.
Some pictures from Sunday of Pale Male on a nearby building, flying and of Lola tending to the nest.
The Pool Red-tail
Over last few weeks in the early evening, a young Red-tailed hawk has been hunting rodents at the waterfall near Glen Span Arch. The hawk was there on Saturday, but an older woman feeding raccoons spoiled its rodent hunting.
