As I came into the park, there was a wonderful rainbow over the east side.  Later, I followed the the dark female fron the “Woody” building to the Beresford Apartments.  In Lola’s favorite spot, it was like seeing a ghost. 

Sunday at Fifth Avenue seemed to be just like the last few days.  The only surprise was Pale Male’s roosting location, north of the Met!  He was on the Jackie O building before roosting.

On Friday, I posted a request for information about what triggers ovulation in a female hawk and what the logical time frame would be for the Dark Female to lay eggs.

Katherine Herzog and Pamela Langford offered some excellent insights.

Katherine reminded me that Pale Male and Lola usually started courting behavior around mid-February and nested in early-March, so they had about a four week window.

Pamela asked a biologist for my question.  The answer was that scientists don’t know all of the variables.  Certainly, time of year/daylight and food supply play a large part, but scientists also know other factors such as behavior play a part.  (Even less is known about what triggers a second clutch, when things go wrong!)

So, given all of what I know so far, I only think I can say that we shouldn’t be concerned if this new female takes up to four weeks to lay eggs or somewhere around April 22nd.  I could however be much shorter.  Bets anyone?

Saturday was typical of what has become the normal pattern at the nest.  Copulation, a shared late afternoon meal, chasing an intruder Red-tailed Hawk (whose identity is a mystery), and lots of nest visits primarily at this point by Pale Male.

The dark female and Pale Male continue to cement their relationship, as the photos below show. 

In the surprise that partners had switched yet again last week, I assumed that this new female was the Dec./Jan. mate based on my memory of how she looked.  I went back to old photographs tonight and video, and the hawks from the two periods are a close match.  But a perfect match?   I can’t say for sure.

I arrived around 6 p.m. this evening to a quieter Fifth Avenue.  The two hawks mated twice, and Pale Male came to the nest a few times, but the general pace was much more relaxed.  It could have been the late hour or things might have been calmer today.  I’m not sure.

The dark female and Pale Male frequently visited the nest and used various buildings to copulate on Sunday evening.  The mystery surrounding the Pale Female’s disappearance continues to be the topic of conversation at the hawk bench.  I don’t think we’ll ever know what really happened.