3/17-3/18, Still Waiting

Word is that three Manhattan red-tailed hawk nests now have mothers brooding eggs. The Morningside nest at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine is not one of them^*. As I indicated previously, last year the Morningside nest ran a week later than those elsewhere in Manhattan -- the eyasses were born 6-7 days later after those at Highbridge and Inwood -- so even were things "normal", I wouldn't be expecting Isolde to start brooding for a few more days. Things are, of course, not normal because of the late change in who Isolde's mate is.

Isolde Visits the Nest, Monday

In any event, checking on Isolde and her new guy on Monday and Tuesday in the late afternoon/early evening, I witnessed a couple nest visits and one episode of mating. There's been a lot of perching on hospital chimneys, but apparently no pre-brooding sleepovers in the nest.

Mating on a Hospital Chimney, Monday

As James has noted in his blog, the new male has a different personality from the missing Tristan. It also has seemed to me that his influence is effecting some changes on behavior and range from what we've been used to. The last few times I've been over to Morningside, there's been a lot more activity to the north of the nest than I've ever seen before. This is not particularly unprecedented as neighborhood residents have reported such behavior before, but their reports always seemed to be about morning behavior while what I've been seeing has been at the end of the day.

Preparing Dinner at 116th Street, Tuesday

Another possibility is that with all the red-tails in town these days, Isolde and mate have felt like they needed to put up more of a display on their northern flanks in order to maintain their range. There was the juvie hanging around the area a few weeks ago, perhaps the same juvie as seen on the Columbia campus not long ago. Further, there is a new red-tail nest located about 26 blocks to the north on the CCNY campus, so perhaps it has been necessary for the Morningside red-tails to let the new neighbors know that good fences make good neighbors.

The Morningside Drive View, Tuesday

PS: Hedda was out and about both days also.

Hedda Gobbler, Tuesday

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^* Also no brooding yet at the Seventh Ave. nest nor as of a couple days ago the new one on Houston. Not sure about CCNY, and the Highbridge hawks have upped sticks and their new nest site is unknown.