Mama of the Briarwood Nest, sleeps with her head tucked while two very young hawks sleep beneath her.
Jeff Kollbrunner's capture from earlier in the day. Look carefully and you'll see two heads.
Mama and Papa now have a confirmed hatch of two eyasses. Though they often hatch two, sometimes there is a third and as we can't see down in the nest bowl, there may yet be another little one popping up in the days to come.
As some of you may not be familiar with Mama and Papa the bonded pair in Queens who have been together for nearly two decades I asked Jeff Kollbrunner, one of their chief watchers for a recap of their history.
Donna,
This is our nineteenth season observing Mama and Papa.
After many years of following them we discovered their first nest in
2004, they had two fledglings that season. Each year since we have been
able to locate their nest and observe them raise their young. In 2005,
their nest and eggs located on an apartment building were destroyed by
humans. A new nest was quickly rebuilt at a second location on the same
complex and they were able to produce another egg. Unfortunately, their
saga did not end easily that season when at six weeks old their eyass
was removed from the nest due to registered complaints to the proper
authorities. Mama was captured and banded during this process while
attempting to defend her nest and Papa injured his wing defending his
nest. The eyass was taken to a rehabilitator
outside of NY for
conditioning and a foster training process. Requests were made to have
the fledgling returned to the area once his foster training was
completed, the rehabilitator did
not comply. In 2006, their nest was destroyed once again by humans this
time just prior to laying their eggs. Fortunately, they found an
alternate location away from this building complex, they rebuilt another
nest quickly and within one day of completing the new nest produced two
eggs and raised two healthy fledglings. Since then life has become a
bit more routine for Mama and Papa as they typically have two to three
eggs and fledglings per season. In 2009 at about three weeks of age one
of their two eyasses perished in the nest during a period of extreme weather. In 2010, two of the three eyasses perished both on a Monday one week apart. One of them was predated most likely by an owl,
the second perished from frounce and the third fledgling survived.
Since 2004 Mama and Papa in eight nesting seasons have produced 17 eggs with 14 successful fledges.
They generally produce two eggs and two fledglings each season, so it
is possible that Mama and Papa may have produced up to 36 fledglings
over the last eighteen nesting seasons. The NYCA Hawkcam made its debut in 2007 allowing us a window to observe this pair of Red-tailed Hawks bring new life into the world.
All the best, Jeff
Thanks Jeff!
Though Jeff didn't mention it in his recap, during the episode in which Papa had an injured wing, though he could feebly fly, Papa couldn't readily hunt for himself. Therefore when Mama got out of rehab, she hunted for Papa so he had enough to eat while his wing finished healing.
They are also one of two pairs in NYC who have been observed "kissing". (The other pair was Charlotte and Pale Male Jr. whose territory was the southern portion of Central Park.)
Also though most Red-tailed Hawk literature will tell you that Red-tailed Hawks do not team hunt, Jeff has observed the behavior in Mama and Papa. As I observed it in the rural hawks, Mr. and Mrs. M in Wisconsin.
NOW FOR THE SECOND DOUBLE NEST OF THE DAY
These two eyasses tussle quite a lot. While Rosie attempted to tear open one of the stiffest rats I've ever seen, First eyass beaked Second eyass flat to the nest. But Second got feisty.
Second then pulled herself up and gave First some very determined pecks in the head. First backed off.
Then when Bobby arrived on the nest they both became all attention.
Next up More of the Saga Concerning Ginger Lima and the Central Park Precinct Rat Bait Box from the New York Times.
The red-tailed hawk Lima,
photographed last November, was found dead on Feb. 26. She was once the
mate of the much-followed raptor Pale Male.
It had the makings of an avian mystery, albeit almost the opposite of
that Hitchcockian one. Two red-tailed hawks were found dead, one in
Central Park, one just outside. A third died 24 hours after being taken
out of the park and sent to a wildlife rehabilitator because concerned
park rangers could
A sign warning of rat poison outside the Central Park police precinct.
"The Citizens Potawatomi Nation's FireLake Golf
Course are respecting nature. When a Canada goose made her nest on the
course it seemed like a peaceful place to call home until the golf carts
drove past. She began avidly protecting her nest and eggs. Chris
Chesser, CPN diretor of the golf course found a solution. They put up a
temporary barrier fence so there is a place for both! "
