West Coast Redtails

Another example of nature triumphant, this one from Los Angeles, with some fascinating parallels to the Pale Male and Lola story. The parallels bode well for success next year at the 927 Fifth Ave nest:


Mina & Willie [Mom & Dad] on nest
photo by Steve -- website below
http://www.trailhiker.smugmug.com/


Mina and 2 new chicks
Photo by Steve - website below
http://www.trailhiker.smugmug.com/


Marie,

I wanted you to know that we have a situation similar to Central Park here in suburban Los Angeles. At the Kaiser Hospital where I work we have a male and female Red-tail Hawk who have lived on the grounds for at least 3 years.

Their first nest was in a tree outside of a lounge area in the main hospital and in 2003 they enthralled staff and public alike by hatching and raising 3 hawklets (one of which fell out of the nest and died). The tree along with the nest was later destroyed to make way for construction, but Mom and Dad merely moved the nesting site to a ledge on the corner of a nearby building.

Their first try last year at a successful hatching in the new site was unsuccessful possibly because the new nest was built on top of pigeon spikes and didn't have enough material, thus piercing the eggs. This year, however, everything went perfectly and 3 babies broke into this world between April 10 and 12. I was able to gain access to the building roof across from the nest so I set up my super-zoom digital camera and proceeded to pictorially chronicle events as they unfolded.

It's now about 3 weeks after fledging and the 3 hawklets are pretty much doing everything but hunting for themselves. I've taken about 3000 pics so far and put 400 of them up on my website for people to view; I provide some background info on Red-tails and quote from sources such as your book (I hope you don't mind) and Charles Preston's "Wild Bird Guide: Red-tailed Hawk". I've received much positive feedback from hospital staff and customers; we even had a spot on a Los Angeles TV station when one of the hawklets was having some difficulties during "first flight". So, being a fellow Hawkwatcher I just wanted to inform you of our unique situation out here.

. . . The bottom line is the Red-tails are here to stay; hospital adminstration has promised not to touch the nest (the building is new so I guess they can't tear it down for awhile) so the Red-tails will delight us for years to come, and I plan to follow them with my camera for as long as I can. I wish to thank you and your Central Park friends --- and Pale Male and his mates, of course --- for providing the inspiration to tell this amazing story.

Steve