Saturday, July 22, 2006

Ward Stone on Pale Male: He's not too old.

Pale Male bringing twig to nest
Photo by Lincoln Karim


The long-awaited report on Pale Male & Lola's eggs

By the time the eggs retrieved on 6/13/06 got to Ward Stone at the DEC's Wildlife Pathology lab in Albany they were in too advanced a state of decay to test for microscopic development. A visual look showed no embryonic development. But no further fertility testing was possible. The egg material was then sent to two different labs for toxicology testing. The results were negative for all substances tested. That was it.

My first encounter with Ward Stone

I first spoke to Ward Stone in 1993. The management of 927 Fifth Ave. had taken down the nest that year at the end of Pale Male's very first [and unsuccessful] nesting attempt on the building. The removal was a violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, a federal law. The hawkwatchers zapped the Fish & Wildlife service on the management, thus preventing them from removing it again. The rest is history. [A new Fish and Wildlife Service "Memorandum" that went into effect in 2003 allowed the building to remove the nest legally in 2004, in spite of the clearcut federal law-- but that's a different story, one you all know well.]

Anyhow, in 1993, after the nest had been removed and unceremoniously stuffed into a huge black plastic bag, I managed to retrieve a fragment of an egg from the mass of twigs. It had a considerable amount of old yolk in it. I carefully placed the egg fragment in a plastic bag, wrapped it in tissue and placed it in a box. As it happens my cousins from Schenectady, Helen and Frank Steiner, were visiting NYC that day. They didn't live far from the lab and agreed to deliver the box personally to Ward Stone.

Frank worked for General Electric [GE] then and was very familiar with the name Ward Stone. GE did not love Ward Stone, to put it mildly. He had done necropsies on a lot of wildlife that had ingested chemicals GE had disposed of improperly. This was important evidence in a big lawsuit against GE. Nevertheless blood runs thicker, as they say, and Frank cheerfully agreed to drop off the egg. In fact he and Helen were nature lovers and were happy to do their bit to help our hawks. [Frank died a few years ago. Helen continues to be a Pale Male fan and sends me clippings from the local papers whenever he makes headlines].

Back in 1993 it took quite a few months to get the pathology report from Ward Stone. Then, as now, Stone had an enormous backlog of wildlife remains waiting to be analyzed. Of course then Pale Male was just an obscure raptor, not "the most famous hawk in the world." So our egg had to wait its turn. I have a feeling that this time we got ahead on the line, thanks to Pale Male's fame, and Ward Stone's own personal interest in the Fifth Avenue nest. After all, he's been closely involved in the story many times over the past 13 years. For example, he's the one who analyzed the remains of First Love, Pale Male's first mate, who disappeared in 1992 and amazingly reappeared in 1996. She became Mom II and raised 3 chicks in 1995 and 2 in 1997,. Then on Oct 12, 1997, she was found dead on a ledge of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a poisoned pigeon in her crop.

When the report from Ward Stone came in back in 1993, it was amazingly similar to the report we received this year. In '93, too, there was no evidence of embryonic material in the egg fragment, and negative findings in the toxicology series.

I had my first of many phone conversations with Ward Stone that year. Then as now I wanted more answers than the report provided. He couldn't give me definitive answers, but he did venture a guess. Knowing that Pale Male was probably no more than 3 years old, and considering the likelihood that this was his first nest, Stone thought that the nest failure was probably due to the pale hawk's immaturity. Many redtails fail in their first few nesting attempts. Ward Stone was probably right. As we know well, the nest succeeded in 1995, and every year thereafter, until 2005.

Conversation with Ward Stone this year

First we reminisced about the past, and about our first conversation in 1993 when he thought the light-colored red-tail might have been too young. I immediately raised the question: Thirteen years have passed. Is Pale Male too old now to be fertile. Is that why the nest failed last year and this year? He answered:

"Here's my guess. With humans we worry a lot about when sexual activity is in decline, as you can see with Viagra and that sort of thing.

My experience with wildlife over all these years is that they really remain capable of reproduction for a very long period of time. If you look at bird records you don't see a big fall-off in fertility. You find a lot of birds, a lot of raptors able to reproduce until they're quite old..

Pale Male is somewhere around 15, --now that's not real old. I have a record of a 27-year-old redtail female who was hit by a car right near where I grew up in Columbia County. Her ovaries were in great shape and it was clear that she had laid eggs that same season. And I've got a male who was 17 or so whose organs were moderately enlarged -- everything looked good

There's no reason to believe that Pale Male is ancient, no reason to conclude there's a reproductive problem . I'd call him a regular middle-aged male.

I asked: What might be the reason for the nest failure, then?

Ward was willing to speculate:

"There's only circumstantial evidence, but the weather might be involved. We've lost a lot of birds this year because of torrential downpours."

That, of course, does not explain last year's failure. I asked him what he thought about the "cradle" put up in January 2005 for the purpose of holding the nest in place. Stone answered:
"Well, it's metal, but it doesn't come in contact with the eggs does it? "

I tell him that the accumulation of sticks brought by the hawks last year and this still looks somewhat sparce. Perhaps there is some contact.

"Could the hawks be provided with more sticks somewhere nearby?" he asked.

I told him I doubted they'd avail themselves of any supply of sticks we left for them nearby, because they always break off living twigs from trees for nesting material. Stone was surprised to hear this.

"You think they're only going to take twigs off trees?" he asked.

"Yes I do," I answered, "I'd confidently say that every single twig in the nest has been broken off a living tree."

"That's interesting," said the Albany scientist. "I've often seen hawks come in with stick to a nest, but I've never seen where they get the twig from."

I realized, and not for the first time, how privileged the Central Park hawkwatchers are in what they're able to see in their urban enclave. The park is relatively small and there are many hawkwatchers about, ever on the alert for hawk activity We've seen Pale Male and his various mates breaking off twigs and taking them to the Fifth Avenue nest literally hundreds of times.. We've even seen them breaking sticks off ornamental roof garden trees on neighboring buildings.

I once had a conversation with John Blakeman, our delightful hawk expert from Ohio, in which he said he had never had an opportunity to see where redtails get the twigs they carry to their nests. I had never seen any information about this in any of the published accounts about Red-tailed Hawks either. It's amazing to think that at least in this one small area, we may know more than all the acclaimed scientists. Let's hear it for the amateurs.





Toxicology Report

Dear Readers,

I received the Toxicology report for the hawk eggs via a PDF attachment to an email, which I opened via Adobe Reader. But the only way I could transfer it here was by copy and paste. It does not come out in columns any more. Sorry. But the information is still there, and for any of you to whom this means anything,[it never meant anything to me, even in the neat columns] please study the numbers and see if you agree that the toxicology is negative.


Pace Analytical
Services, Inc.
Test Result EQL Code Units Anl Date Anl Method Prep Method
INORGANICS
Dil. MDL
Aluminum 0.72 mg/Kg as is 06/20/06 15 SW846 6020 SW846 M3050 1 0.72 <
Antimony 0.040 mg/Kg as is 06/22/06 0.30 SW846 6020 SW846 3050B 1 0.040 <
Arsenic 0.036 mg/Kg as is 06/20/06 0.30 SW846 6020 SW846 M3050 1 0.036 <
Barium 0.10 mg/Kg as is 06/20/06 0.30 SW846 6020 SW846 M3050 1 B 0.070
Beryllium 0.015 mg/Kg as is 06/20/06 0.10 SW846 6020 SW846 M3050 1 0.015 <
Cadmium 0.028 mg/Kg as is 06/20/06 0.10 SW846 6020 SW846 M3050 1 0.028 <
Calcium 910 mg/Kg as is 06/20/06 30 SW846 6020 SW846 M3050 1 13
Chromium 0.36 A mg/Kg as is 06/20/06 1.0 SW846 6020 SW846 M3050 1 B 0.088
Cobalt 0.034 mg/Kg as is 06/20/06 0.20 SW846 6020 SW846 M3050 1 0.034 <
Iron 28 mg/Kg as is 06/20/06 30 SW846 6020 SW846 M3050 1 B 1.1
Lead 0.054 mg/Kg as is 06/20/06 0.25 SW846 6020 SW846 M3050 1 B 0.035
Magnesium 100 mg/Kg as is 06/20/06 15 SW846 6020 SW846 M3050 1 1.1
Manganese 0.81 * mg/Kg as is 06/20/06 0.40 SW846 6020 SW846 M3050 1 0.29
Mercury 0.0069 mg/Kg as is 06/21/06 0.010 SW846 7471A SW846 7471A 1 B 0.0011
Potassium 1600 mg/Kg as is 06/20/06 20 SW846 6020 SW846 M3050 1 3.4
Selenium 0.52 mg/Kg as is 06/20/06 0.50 SW846 6020 SW846 M3050 1 0.11
Silver 0.014 mg/Kg as is 06/21/06 0.30 SW846 6020 SW846 3050B 1 B 0.0082
Sodium 2800 mg/Kg as is 06/20/06 250 SW846 6020 SW846 M3050 5 82
Thallium 0.017 mg/Kg as is 06/20/06 0.30 SW846 6020 SW846 M3050 1 0.017 <
Tin 0.42 mg/Kg as is 06/22/06 5.0 SW846 6020 SW846 3050B 1 B 0.38
Titanium 0.52 mg/Kg as is 06/20/06 0.50 SW846 6020 SW846 M3050 1 0.093
Vanadium 0.16 mg/Kg as is 06/21/06 0.30 SW846 6020 SW846 M3050 1 B 0.091
Zinc 11 mg/Kg as is 06/20/06 3.0 SW846 6020 SW846 M3050 1 0.37
Prep Method Analyte Result EQL Code Units Anl Date Anl Method
06/19/06 Prep Date: Preservation Date:
Dil.
PCB
MDL
Aroclor 1016 60 ug/Kg as is 06/21/06 250 SW846 8082 5 SW846 3540C 60 <
Aroclor 1221 60 ug/Kg as is 06/21/06 250 SW846 8082 5 SW846 3540C 60 <
Aroclor 1232 60 ug/Kg as is 06/21/06 250 SW846 8082 5 SW846 3540C 60 <
Aroclor 1242 60 ug/Kg as is 06/21/06 250 SW846 8082 5 SW846 3540C 60 <
Aroclor 1248 60 ug/Kg as is 06/21/06 250 SW846 8082 5 SW846 3540C 60 <
Aroclor 1254 720 N ug/Kg as is 06/21/06 250 SW846 8082 5 SW846 3540C 60
Aroclor 1260 1200 ug/Kg as is 06/21/06 250 SW846 8082 5 SW846 3540C 60
Total PCBs 1900 ug/Kg as is 06/21/06 250 SW846 8082 5 SW846 3540C 60
Surrogate LCL UCL
Tetrachloro-m-xylene 109 06/21/06 SW846 8082 5 SW846 3540C 40 136 %
Decachlorobiphenyl 134 06/21/06 SW846 8082 5 SW846 3540C 47 145 %
Prep Method Analyte Result EQL Code Units Anl Date Anl Method
06/19/06 Prep Date: Preservation Date:
Dil.
PESTICIDES - ORGANOCHLORINE SPECIAL LIST
MDL
2,4'-DDD 2.0 ug/kg as is 06/22/06 5.0 SW846 8081A 1 SW846 3540C J 0.63
2,4'-DDE 0.83 ug/kg as is 06/22/06 5.0 SW846 8081A 1 SW846 3540C 0.83 <
2,4'-DDT 0.73 ug/kg as is 06/22/06 5.0 SW846 8081A 1 SW846 3540C 0.73 <
4,4'-DDD 32 ug/kg as is 06/22/06 5.0 SW846 8081A 1 SW846 3540C 1.5
4,4'-DDE 1200 ug/kg as is 06/22/06 300 SW846 8081A 60 SW846 3540C 130
4,4'-DDT 29 P ug/kg as is 06/22/06 15 SW846 8081A 3 SW846 3540C 5.3
06/23/06 Report Date :
Project Name :
Project Number :
Field ID :
Collection Date :
BIOTA Matrix Type :
873098-001 Lab Sample Number :
0623032A-C
HAWK EGGS
NY STATE DEC - WARD STONE Client :
062032A-C
1241 Bellevue Street
Green Bay, WI 54302
920-469-2436
Analytical Report Number: 873098 Pace Analytical
Services, Inc.
Prep Method Analyte Result EQL Code Units Anl Date Anl Method
06/19/06 Prep Date: Preservation Date:
Dil.
PESTICIDES - ORGANOCHLORINE SPECIAL LIST
MDL
Aldrin 1.4 P ug/kg as is 06/22/06 2.5 SW846 8081A 1 SW846 3540C J 1.0
alpha-BHC 1.3 ug/kg as is 06/22/06 2.5 SW846 8081A 1 SW846 3540C 1.3 <
alpha-Chlordane 30 ug/kg as is 06/22/06 2.5 SW846 8081A 1 SW846 3540C 0.97
beta-BHC 1.9 ug/kg as is 06/22/06 2.5 SW846 8081A 1 SW846 3540C 1.9 <
cis-nonachlor 10 P ug/kg as is 06/22/06 15 SW846 8081A 3 SW846 3540C J 2.2
delta-BHC 0.91 ug/kg as is 06/22/06 2.5 SW846 8081A 1 SW846 3540C 0.91 <
Dieldrin 59 ug/kg as is 06/22/06 5.0 SW846 8081A 1 SW846 3540C 1.7
Endosulfan I 1.0 ug/kg as is 06/22/06 2.5 SW846 8081A 1 SW846 3540C 1.0 <
Endosulfan II 1.5 ug/kg as is 06/22/06 5.0 SW846 8081A 1 SW846 3540C 1.5 <
Endosulfan Sulfate 4.3 P ug/kg as is 06/22/06 5.0 SW846 8081A 1 SW846 3540C J 2.0
Endrin 4.6 P ug/kg as is 06/22/06 5.0 SW846 8081A 1 SW846 3540C J 2.1
Endrin Aldehyde 25 PN ug/kg as is 06/22/06 5.0 SW846 8081A 1 SW846 3540C 1.2
Endrin Ketone 3.1 ug/kg as is 06/22/06 5.0 SW846 8081A 1 SW846 3540C 3.1 <
gamma-BHC (Lindane) 1.6 P ug/kg as is 06/22/06 2.5 SW846 8081A 1 SW846 3540C J 0.72
gamma-Chlordane 46 N ug/kg as is 06/22/06 7.5 SW846 8081A 3 SW846 3540C 4.7
Heptachlor 1.0 ug/kg as is 06/22/06 2.5 SW846 8081A 1 SW846 3540C 1.0 <
Heptachlor Epoxide 83 ug/kg as is 06/22/06 7.5 SW846 8081A 3 SW846 3540C 3.8
Hexachlorobenzene 2.2 ug/kg as is 06/22/06 2.5 SW846 8081A 1 SW846 3540C 2.2 <
Methoxychlor 8.0 ug/kg as is 06/22/06 25 SW846 8081A 1 SW846 3540C 8.0 <
Mirex 1.2 ug/kg as is 06/22/06 5.0 SW846 8081A 1 SW846 3540C 1.2 <
Oxychlordane 180 ug/kg as is 06/22/06 15 SW846 8081A 3 SW846 3540C 2.9
Pentachloroanisole 0.83 ug/kg as is 06/22/06 2.5 SW846 8081A 1 SW846 3540C 0.83 <
trans-Nonachlor 210 ug/kg as is 06/22/06 15 SW846 8081A 3 SW846 3540C 2.0
Surrogate LCL UCL
Tetrachloro-m-xylene 81 06/22/06 SW846 8081A 1 SW846 3540C 40 136 %
Decachlorobiphenyl 94 06/22/06 SW846 8081A 1 SW846 3540C 47 145 %

Friday, July 21, 2006

Pale Male and Lola's eggs

First, a chronology for 2006:

Incubation began about March 5
Eggs should have hatched no later than April 15
Hawks finally abandon nest--May 26
Three intact eggs retrieved by Chris Nadareski ,
NY State DEC via roof of 927 Fifth --June 13
Eggs taken to DEC lab in Albany
to be examined by Ward Stone, wildlife pathologist-- June 13
I received a verbal report: They examined all three eggs and there were no signs of embryonic material --June 15
Final report received and released by New
York City Audubon --------------------------July 14



What I know and don't know about Pale Male & Lola's eggs


I received two mailings on July 14. One was a print-out of the toxicology report everyone had been waiting for. The other was the NYC Audubon press release. I posted the release on the same day I received it: July 14th [You might want to have another look at it].

I will try to copy and paste the toxicology report at the end of this posting. But in summary, I did not see anything in the actual report that was not stated in the press release. That is, there was no toxicological smoking gun found in the numerous tests the egg material was subjected to that would explain this year's nest failure..

I was eager to see a detailed report on the fertility status of the eggs. This would resolve some of the main questions. But there was no such detailed report. The Audubon press release simply repeated the same message I had heard two days after the eggs were retrieved: "The examination revealed no sign of embryonic development in the eggs."

What does this mean?

During the period between April 15 and the time the eggs were retrieved there were numerous theories proposed about the nest failure. Many of them focused on the anti-pigeon spikes that have always formed the base of the nest. Supposedly towards the end of incubation, when the egg shells begins to thin, the spikes penetrated the shell and the undeveloped chicks died.

But on June 13 Chris Nadareski, who retrieved the eggs, found that all three of them were INTACT. That took care of the prime suspect. Among the remaining theories were these:

1. Pale Male is now 15 years old. He is too old to fertilize Lola's eggs. That's why the eggs didn't hatch. They were unfertilized.

2. The eggs were fertilized, but something went wrong during incubation, perhaps chilling, which prevented the embryos from developing. This would cast suspicion on the new "cradle" structure put up in January, 2005, to allow the hawks to rebuild the nest .

***a. This could have happened at the very beginning of incubation, when there were many bitterly cold days. If that were the case, there wouldn't be much embryonic development to be seen when the eggs were examined.

***b. Or it could have happened at any time later during the incubation period, in which case there would be chick embryos in the eggs.

3. The hawks ingested some toxin, rat poison from a baited rat, for instance, or some organochlorine from a poisoned pigeon. This did not directly damage them, but it affected the egg development and could possibly be found in toxicology tests.

4. Bad weather : Too much rain, . Or some other weather factor.

5. Something else.


Theory #3 was eliminated by the toxicology tests.

Theory 2b was eliminated by the first exam, showing no visible embryonic material.

Theries 4 and 5 are essentially unaswerable. They would always be in the realm of conjecture.

But Theories 1 and 2a seem to me to be closely related. If Pale Male had not fertilized the eggs , shouldn't there be some way of testing the eggs to find out? After all, as the press release stated, the examination of the eggs done on that first day only indicated that "the eggs never passed the early stages of development." This does not answer the question of Pale Male's fertility. Nor does it eliminate the possibility that something about the "cradle" was a factor in the nest failure, perhaps by conducting cold to the eggs from the very start of incubation. That might have caused them to stop developing when the embryos were still microscopic.

My first call was to my old friend Len Soucy, the founder and head of the Raptor Trust in Millington, NJ. He's always the first call. As usual he was most helpful. "I'm not an expert on embryology," he said, but I can steer you to someone who is. He gave me the number of the Peregrine Fund's Center for Birds of Prey, in Boise Idaho, and there I was connected with Cal Sandfort, one of their biologists.

My talk with the Idaho Hawk Expert

I laid out the problem. But before he answered my specific question about a test to find out if the PM & Lola's eggs had been fertilized, he answered a few general questions about fertility in Red-tailed Hawks I think are relevant here:

When I asked if he thought a 15-year-old hawk might be too old he said "I know redtails can be long-lived. We have peregrines here that can fertilize eggs when they're 17, 18, 19 years old.

I told him that Pale Male & Lola were seen copulating many times in the late winter, and asked if there were any correlation between copulation and fertility. He said
"Generally if they're copulating and they've produced fertile eggs in the past, typically they'll produce fertile eggs until the male gets old and pooped out, so to speak."

When I asked him about the possibility that the eggs were chilled early on in incubation he answered:
"Eggs are really durable. You can darn near freeze eggs early in incubation with no problem. You can chill them almost any time during incubation--until late incubation, without much poblem. They're more susceptible to heat."

Then we moved on to the question of detecting early embryonic development in an egg.

"If the embryo died between 1 and 4 days after it was laid, if you opened it up you wouldn't be able to see anything. There wouldn't be enough embryonic tissue, blood vessels and so forth to amount to anything you could see visually."

Well, I persisted, could you still find out about those 1-4 days is some way?

"Yes, he said, there's a stain. I'll have to find the paper on this. I'm sure we have it in our library. [He hasn't sent it yet] Anyway, you can stain the blastodisk -- the initial embryonic material -- the way you stain bacteria on slides, and in that way you can determine fertility even before you have very much embryonic development. An infertile egg does not stain. There's no blastodisk there to stain"

And then he added words that would prove to be fatal to my pursuit:

"I don't know how fresh the egg has to be in order to stain it successfully. If an egg sat around a couple of months it may not work."


I think you see clearly what's coming. I didn't want to leave you in too much suspense. Still, there's more information to come.

Tomorrow: my interview with Ward Stone, the wildlife pathologist.
and the toxicology report [if I can transfer it here]

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Good news about the little island

The little island on west side of the Lake,north of Bow Bridge
View is with Phragmites, before new planting
Photo by Bob Levy









Regular website correspondent Bob Levy writes:


Here’s something even the most observant Central Park birder might have overlooked: the island in Central Park Lake is being replanted. After years of being covered up and looking like the “Island of Black Plastic Sheeting” new growth has appeared. Regina Alvarez, Woodland Manager for the Central Park Conservancy, told me that Pickerelweed, Blueflag iris, and Bulrush specimens are already in place. Unfortunately if not humorously, Regina says that Cattails were supposed to be included in this round of planting, but the nursery forgot to put them on the delivery truck. When they do arrive cattails will be added to the plant mix but this is only the first phase. After the Bank Rock restoration is complete more enhancements will be made to the island. This is good aesthetic news for observers and even better habitat news for the birds and other animals that used to make excellent use of the island in its formerly “vegetative” state even if it was overflowing with the widely disparaged Phragmites (i.e. Common Reed) at the time.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Pale Male's ethics

Pale Male on Robin nest - 7/14/06
Photo by Lincoln Karim


Ben Cacace, a hawkwatcher from the early Pale Male days, comments on some recent statements by John Blakeman.  Please check the posting on 7/15 to see the statements in their original context. Ben quotes John Blakeman, and then comments:


John Blakeman:
"The effort required to acquire the morsel is a mere
low-power fly-in and -out. Nothing easier for less
effort."

Ben comments:
This is the equivalent of a human entering a grocery

store and picking up a frozen Turkey. Actually
Red-tailed Hawks are much more efficient since they
don't generate the great waste/pollution we create
when processing animal products for human consumption.


John Blakeman:

"Like any other wild predator, red-tails have no
morality or ethics, only an instinctive desire to
acquire food easily and frequently."


Ben comments:
When comparing the ethics and morals of
Red-taileds versus humans I don't think there is
really any comparison. Just because we say we have
morals but behave as if we don't doesn't make the
balanced behaviour of Red-tailed Hawks (in relation to
nature) anything to look down on. We can learn quite a
bit by watching these creatures.

I've never heard of a war being declared by Blue Jays
on Red-tailed Hawks ... or vice versus for that
matter.


Will the heron babies be OK?

photo by Bruce Yolton-7/16/06



Along with a number of other Central Park birdwatchers I am a member of the Woodland Advisory Board. This group meets regularly with officials of the Central Park Conservancy and the Parks Department about problems that affect the park's wildlife, especially in the Ramble and the North Woods.

For the last few months we have been discussing a large Capital Project that will first restore the Upper Lobe part of The Lake, which has gotten almost completely silted over in recent years, and then the shoreline of the entire Lake. The project includes a historic restoration of Bank Rock Bridge. That is one of the main entries into the Ramble. It is also right near the cove where the Green Heron are currently nesting.

Yesterday I received the following letter from Bruce Yolton:


Dear Woodlands Committee member,

A few folks have asked me about the pipe in the North of the Upper Lobe and the July dredging of the Upper Lobe vs. the Green Herons.

Before people start thinking they have to chain themselves to trees, is the scheduled work going to be delayed by the Parks Department until the Herons fledge?

Thanks, Bruce
-
I immediately forwarded Bruce's note to Regina Alvarez, the park's Woodlands Manager and the main liaison between the powers-that-be of the Conservancy [who officially runs the park] and the park's so-called "nature community." I included the following note:

Regina,

I've received a few anxious queries like the one below. Is there any information I can pass along to the Central Park nature community that will assure them that the Green Heron family will not be disturbed by the Upper Lobe restoration work? This is now one of the most closely watched spots in the park.

This morning I received the following reply:

Hi Marie -

Yes, please reassure everyone we will not harm the nest and the babies. The last information I sent to everybody said that we switched the order in which we are approaching the project. We've continued with pruning and invasive removals, all of which are not by the nest. The fence is scheduled to go up during the last week of July. (The path will have to be closed but we will make a modification in the fence so people can still view the nest.)

At the beginning of August, we will have contractors begin the soil work (loosening compaction, adding compost, etc.) and we will have them start on the North and East side of the cove, staying away from the nest. By the time we get to the west side, to taking the bridge down and beginning the excavation, the herons should have fledged.

Rest assured, the last thing we want to do is harm the birds.

As always Marie, thanks for fielding these concerns and passing along the information. Hope to see you soon.

Regina

Monday, July 17, 2006

The Fuzzy Foursome

In case you were wondering how the Green Heron chicks are doing, here's a great shot of all four, by BRUCE YOLTON. A lot more photos on his site: www.urbanhawks.blogs.com

Other successful families in Central Park this summer, besides the ubiquitous starlings, house sparrows and their wheedling young are:

Canada Goose, Mallard, Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove, Downy Woodpecker, Eastern Kingbird, Warbling Vireo, Blue Jay, Barn Swallow, House wren, Wood Thrush, American Robin, Gray Catbird, Cedar Waxwing, Song Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Great Skua, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, Baltimore Oriole.


PS Just checking to see if anyone reads these lists. The rest of them really are nesters.