When a Red-tailed Hawk nest hatches, long before the eyasses are visible to observers a few behavior changes take place.

• The mother will eat on the nest rather than flying off to a nearby location to eat
• Both parents will spend time waking around the edge of the nest looking down into the nest
• The mother will tear up small pieces of food and appear to be feeding young

I received reports that all three changes appeared to take place today on Fifth Avenue.  It's too early to know for sure if the nest has hatched but all signs are positive.

I'm still on vacation but will be back on Sunday to make a first hand report.

Hawk watchers on Fifth Avenue have limited expectations about the nest being successful this year.  After years of Pale Male and Lola having fertility problems, there are small hopes that Lima (Lincoln Karim’s name for the new female, that seems to be the now generally recognized name for the Dark Female/Ginger) might have better luck with Pale Male.

The hatch window starts around May 10th and will continue for about ten days.  Don’t expect much news if things continue to go wrong, but expect one hell of a party if there is a hatch.

Pale Male was in some trees north of the Model Boat Pond when I arrived from Riverside Park late this afternoon.  He soon flew to a “Linda” building railing and took advantage of the late afternoon sun.  The dark female was on the nest and looked very settled in.  Much more so, that the fidgety days of last week.

It looks like egg laying has started on Fifth Avenue, but the mother is acting a little inexperienced.  She stood and preened after sunset for at least half an hour tonight.  She may not have laid all of her eggs yet so “no worries”, but the behavior seemed out of place.  I guess we have a young mother. 

This is going to be a fun season.  I suspect everything will be slightly different now that we have a new female.

The Dark Female (Ginger/Lima) spend another night on the nest this evening.  Around 7:40 p.m. she circled the area of the hawk bench and then landed on the nest. 

My original hypothesis about this year’s nesting seems to be holding true.  I thought that the Dark Female, who was hanging around with a young hawk who she stole food from, didn’t yet have the hormones to bond properly with Pale Male in January. 

This allowed the Pale Female (Pale Beauty) to come in and try to bond with Pale Male later in the season.  But I think she was too young to lay eggs yet, so things didn’t work out.  She never seemed interested in the nest.  I believe this allowed the Dark Female, who was now more motivated to mate since the days were much longer, to move in and displace her.

Even though it was late in the season, I wasn’t concerned.  Triggers other than longer days must play a part in getting a female to ovulate.  This must include copulation, nest building, constant displays of food by the male, etc.  With help from other hawk watchers, we estimated that it would take three to four weeks for the Dark Female to ovulate from the date of her return.  It’s been sixteen days since the Dark Female returned, and now our timing estimates look like they might be correct.  I certainly hope so!

As the Dark Female begins to settle in, Pale Male has been introducing her to his full territory which includes the Beresford Apartments at 81st and Central Park West.  Pale Male eat and gave leftover to his new mate on the south tower of the building on Saturday.