After signs that their might have been a hatch on Fifth Avenue, it is looking more and more like we may have another nest failure.

I went by the nest in a break in the rain to see what was happening.  Pale Male had visited before I had arrived.  Lola was sitting on the nest.  Nothing much happened!

It was back to “normal” on the nest today, which does not bode well for the viability of the nest.  I was at the nest for only the end of the day, having gone up north to look for eyasses.

There was a simple exchange with Pale Male bringing food for Lola.

It was a beautiful day on Saturday.  The warm weather and the continued stay of the Yellow-throated Warbler brought out large numbers of birders and hawk watchers.

Pale Male and Lola did not have an exchange in the afternoon.  He visited the nest and then left.

Lola stayed settled down in the nest for most of the afternoon, only getting up a few times.  If there had been a hatch, you would expected for her to have been up more than yesterday.  So, this was not a positive sign.

Figuring out if a nest has hatched, when you can’t see inside, is a challenge.  On Fifth Avenue, hawk watchers look for changes in behavior. 

Today, on a warm, sunny spring day, we saw two behavior changes. 

• Pale Male brought food directly to the nest rather than leaving it in a surrounding tree or terrace for Lola to go off nest and eat. They also didn’t exchange places.  Lola stayed on the nest.
• Lola spent a great deal of time fidgeting in the nest.

These behavior changes may mean nothing. If they are followed up with more behavior changes and in a few days a feeding, we’ll have good news.

But for now, they don’t mean anything.  They could easily be a false alarm caused by a warm spring day.

I missed Pale Male’s giving Lola her late afternoon/evening break from the nest tonight.  They made their exchange just before I arrived.  Not much happened for the rest of the evening, with Lola only getting up to stretch just twice.

Again, there were no signs of a hatching.

I visited the nest on Tuesday in the rain and didn’t take any pictures.  Pale Male was on a building a few blocks for the nest, while Lola stayed on the nest.

The weather was better on Wednesday afternoon with the clouds giving way to sunny skies.   Lola must have had a break off the nest before I arrived, since she stayed on the nest for the entire time I was there.  Pale Male was on the building south of the nest when I arrived, left and then returned to a different window on the same floor.

Still not signs of a hatching.  I suspect we only have a slight chance of success, after four years of failure.