Thursday, March 31, 2016

Heartbreaking hawk news

Earlier in the month, I posted about two red-tailed hawks hanging around Chinatown.  Since then, I've spent a lot of time with them and thought I'd have some happy news to report.  Sadly, that's not the case.

It turns out this hawk pair had constructed a nest on the billboard at Canal & Chrystie, but it was disturbed, so they relocated to the Columbus Park area in Chinatown.  This park had been heavily baited with rat poison, so I've been extremely worried about the hawks, who were using the park for hunting.

This is the male with a mouse he caught in the park on March 18.

Hawk with a mouse

As it's mating/nesting season, the male has been doing a lot of hunting and feeding the female.  They've both been very busy gathering sticks from trees in Columbus and Collect Pond parks, and building a nest on an air-conditioner at the Heath Department.

Downtown hawks

Downtown hawks

Chinatown red-tail pair
Female on the left, male on the right.

The hawks are well-known in the area and have been delighting people with their nest-building activities.  Since my last post, we've determined the hawk with the barred tail is the female (I'd misidentified her as the male in my post).  Judging by the fact that they each have light colored eyes and have been a bit disorganized with their nest-building, I am guessing they are very young and this is their first time going through this process.  A witness informed me that the female laid an egg on an air-conditioner earlier in the week, but there was no nest on that particular unit and the hawk didn't know what to do, so the egg was lost off the edge.

Around 1pm yesterday, I watched the female eat a pigeon in Collect Pond Park, but something wasn't quite right.

Chinatown hawk

She was not very enthusiastic about eating.  Compared to her highly energetic behavior in the past, this seemed odd.

Here is some video of her eating.  She's really not into it:



I had to leave the park for a while, but a fellow hawk-watcher told me that after eating, the hawk perched low in a tree and spent most of the afternoon with her eyes closed.  This is not normal behavior.  When I returned to the park around 5:30pm, this is how she looked:

Sick hawk

Her beak still had blood on it from lunch, so she apparently did not finish cleaning her face.  At one point, a squirrel got very close to her, but she didn't react.

Red-tail with squirrel

Although she adjusted her position a little bit, the hawk did not move from the tree all evening.  When she climbed higher to roost, she wobbled and looked very weak.  We had to leave her at 8pm as it was dark.

Female hawk, likely suffering from rat poison

I hoped some rest would do her good, but the sense of dread overcame me when I returned to the park to check on her this morning.  My worst fear was realized when I saw her still in the tree, and she had obviously passed away.

Tragedy

She is being held on the branch by her talons.

As I looked on in horror, other people came by and were equally horrified.  Many had been watching the hawks for several weeks and were devastated to see the dead hawk in the tree.  It was hard to explain to people what had happened without tearing up.  How could this happen?!  She was so alive an energetic just days before!  Even a cop had tears in his eyes as he snapped a pic with his phone.

As if this wasn't terrible enough, the male hawk kept visiting his mate in the tree and seemed utterly confused.

Tragedy

Tragedy

He tried to rouse her by pulling at her feathers.

Tragedy

Most heart-wrenching of all, he brought nesting sticks to her.

Tragedy

This really struck me - the hawks deal with death on a daily basis, yet this male hawk seemed not to recognize it in his mate.

Here is some video of them together:





Tragedy

The Parks Department eventually came and removed the hawk from the tree.  A necropsy will be performed and I'll update if/when I know the results.

It seems obvious to me, though, that she was killed by rodenticide.  There are notices about rat poison posted all over Columbus Park and, despite the hawks nesting and hunting in the parks, more poison was put out just a few days ago.  I try to refrain from expressing anger on this blog, but this absolutely infuriates me.  Rat poison is a lazy and irresponsible way to deal with a problem.  Here we have the natural rat predators showing up and we kill them. There are other ways of dealing with rats, such as using snap traps like they do in Washington Square Park.  Tompkins Square has taken some measures like putting down mesh under the ground cover to block rat holes, and using rat-proof trash compactors.  But the only real way to control the rats is for people to be educated and change their behavior - feeding pigeons, littering, not properly disposing of food, etc.  Poison gets into the ground and water, not to mention it kills squirrels and any other animal that gets into it.  One of Pale Male's kids died last summer after eating a poisoned rat.

Sigh.

As I've spent so much time with these hawks, I have a huge collection of photos of them in happier times. I'll be posting more of those here going forward.  In the mean time, here is a shot of the female hawk working on her nest on March 18.

Chinatown hawk


Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Dora vs a crow

I recently caught Dora the hawk on a break from her nest.  She was perched atop a 20-story building, stretching out and keeping an eye on her territory.

Dora on a nest break

Suddenly, a crow appeared.

Dora the hawk vs a crow

It took aim at her and made several swoops just over her head.

Dora the hawk vs a crow

Dora the hawk vs a crow

They exchanged angry words.

Dora the hawk vs a crow

Dora the hawk vs a crow

Despite the harassment that went on for a couple of minutes, Dora didn't fight back.  Eventually, the crow went away, Dora went on with her preening, and then flew off on her own terms.

Dora the hawk vs a crow

Later that day, I just caught a glimpse of her back at the nest, ever vigilant.

Dora barely visible in nest

Sunday, March 27, 2016

Civic Fame

I lucked out recently when I happened to be standing in the right place, at the right angle, when this red-tailed hawk flew by.

Civic Fame

That is the Manhattan Municipal Building in the background, and the statue is called Civic Fame.

Civic Fame

Civic Fame 

Thursday, March 24, 2016

Quiet hawk week in Tompkins Square

It's certain now that hawks Christo and Dora have eggs in their nest.  Dora is in the nest most of the time and she and Christo do nest-switches every once in a while.

When Dora emerges, she stretches like someone who's been on a long flight in coach.  She doesn't stray too far from the nest, though.  Here she is perched atop the cross of St Brigid's church, which is right across the street from the nest.  From up there, she can likely see straight into it.

Dora taking a break from the nest

Dora taking a break from the nest

Dora taking a break from the nest

After weeks of manic mating and nest-building, Christo seems to be taking advantage of the momentary lull in activity.  Here, he enjoys an evening visit to the bird spa bath.

Bath time for Christo

He then takes in a little hunting from a low branch behind the park offices.

Christo

Something catches his eye...

Christo eyes a potential meal

Aha!

Hawk food

After about twenty minutes of rat-gazing, Christo decided to try his luck in another part of the park, so we parted ways.

Christo at dusk

Christo at dusk

Christo at dusk

Sunday, March 20, 2016

Egg time for Christo and Dora?

Judging by Christo and Dora's behavior over the last few days in Tompkins Square, it looks like they have eggs in the nest.  They've been doing nest-switches, and when Christo comes in to relieve Dora, he gets right down inside the nest which tells me they are incubating eggs.

As I said in the previous post, assuming all eggs were laid this past week, we can look ahead to hatching around the end of April.  Of course, we won't be able to see the eggs hatch, but we will know that babies have arrived when Christo goes into overdrive with food deliveries to the nest.

This is Dora on the nest today.  Look close and you can see her head just peeking over the top of the nest in the center of the photo.

Dora on the nest

A little closer.

Dora on the nest

At the end of the day, Christo paid a visit.

Christo land on the nest

I assumed Dora would get up for a break, but she remained seated in the nest as Christo gingerly walked around the edge.

Christo & Dora on the nest

Yesterday, late in the afternoon, I caught Dora taking a break in a nearby tree as Christo took over nest duty.  She's looking beautiful as always.

Dora

And when Dora is in the nest, Christo remains close by, keeping watch.

Christo 

One drawback to springtime is it means there will soon be leaves on the trees and our view of the nest will be obscured. But I'm sure Dora welcomes the privacy.

Monday, March 14, 2016

Tompkins Square hawk nest update, plus more sexy times

The big news is it looks like Dora spent the night in the nest on Sunday (March 13), so we are on egg watch.

Late that afternoon, both hawks fussed with the nest.  In the photo below, you can barely make out Dora's back in the nest as Christo perches to the right.

Dora & Christo make final preparations on the nest

Dora perched in the honey locust near Avenue B & 9th Street for a few minutes before flying to the nest in the ginkgo tree around 4pm.

Dora flies to the nest

I stayed and watched her for another 3.5 hours and she did not come out of the nest.  By the time I left, it was dark.  You can just see her head poking out from the nest in the photo below.

Dora stays in the nest

Does Dora have an egg?  I don't know, but I'm willing to bet that if there isn't already an egg in there, there will be eggs laid this week.

Last year, we think Dora laid the first of three eggs on or around March 23.  The year before that, she laid her first egg between March 29-31.  This year, the hawks got a much earlier start working on their nest.  If eggs are laid this week, we can expect hatching in 36-40 days, which would be the end of April.

This season, we do not have the luxury of a nest cam to show us what's happening up there, but I'm happy the hawks are nesting in a tree.  The nest cams gave us invaluable information about the hawks and, for that, I'm grateful.  I'm especially thankful for the residents who sacrificed their air-conditioners and allowed us all to share the up-close nesting experience.  I became accustomed to seeing Dora every day, and really enjoyed watching her (and Christo) raise the babies.  This time around, they will have their privacy, so we will just have to wait and be surprised when we're able to catch a glimpse of the kids.

One advantage of this tree nest will be that the babies will be able to use the branches and get room to explore and stretch their wings before fledging.  This was something they could not do on the previous air-conditioner nests.

Speaking of stretching, Dora has been doing some pre-nesting yoga moves over the last several days.

Wings up...

Dora stretches

Tail out...

Dora stretches

See how she perches on one foot while extending the other leg down below the branch.

Dora stretches

Christo takes a flying leap...

Christo takes off as Dora stretches

These hawks have to stretch after all their sexy exercise!

Hawks mating in Tompkins Square

Hawks mating in Tompkins Square

Hawks mating in Tompkins Square

Christo & Dora mating in Tompkins Square

Christo & Dora mating in Tompkins Square

Atop the Christadora...

Christo & Dora mating atop the Christadora

Christo & Dora mating atop the Christadora

I finally caught them mating on top of a church cross (Most Holy Redeemer).  Unfortunately, I was 4.5 blocks away, so this was the best I could do.

Christo & Dora mating atop Most Holy Redeemer

Dora & Christo 
Dora on the left, Christo on the right.