Pale Male and Lola were where I expected them to be today late this afternoon after a strong thunderstorm.

Pale Male was in a tree on the Great Lawn enjoying that it was closed and free of people.  (The Parks Department closes the lawn whenever it is too wet.)  Reports are that he spent the whole afternoon in the same tree, although he did shift perches moving from branch to branch.

Lola likes to be high up, so I expected her to be on a building on either Central Park West or Fifth Avenue.  I found her on a building at 78th and Fifth Avenue being harassed by an American Kestrel.

After all of the ups and downs of this Spring’s breeding season, it was nice to find some consistency.  Soon it will be Fall and Pale Male will hunt around nearby apple trees which attract rodents with their fallen fruit.

The hatching window for the 5th Avenue nest is closing.  If this year’s nest is another failure, I would suggest that the members of the hawk watching community begin to take responsibility for what to do next rather than continuing to blame the Co-Op, NYC Audubon and/or city and state wildlife officials.

This year, with the excellent leadership by Glenn Phillips, executive director of NYC Audubon, a repair of the nest cradle was undertaken to rule out design problems as a cause for three years of nest failures with the cooperation of the Co-Op and the government.  At this point, I think NYC Audubon has fulfilled its obligations.  Any new research and any additional changes to the nest, should be funded by the hawk watching community.

I have to be honest and say that I would not contribute funds to any additional fiddling with the nest.   I would rather see funds spent on supporting NYC Rehabitators, electing a President who would reverse the current administration’s interpretation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act which allowed the original nest to be destroyed and funding education programs that stress that all areas of this nation are wildlife areas, including our cities and suburban areas.

Enough editorializing, here are some pictures of Pale Male and Lola from Saturday.  The pictures on the nest are of Lola and the others are of Pale Male.

While we wait to see if this year’s 5th Avenue nest is a success, we all have been amazed by the tolerance Pale Male and Lola is showing towards a young hawk that was born last year.

The hawk flew south just east of Fifth Avenue, then circled near the nest and then went west over the model boat pond.  Lola didn’t even get up when this happened and Pale Male didn’t appear.  If the eggs hatch, I wonder if this tolerance will continue.

The pictures that follow are single image of the young hawk, and the rest, which were taken about half an hour later, are of Lola having a stretch.

Pale Male brought take out to Lola and gave her a break early on Wednesday evening.

I arrived at the hawk bench a little too late to see Pale Male give Lola a break.  She was out and about and was assumed to be hunting. 

After about fifteen minutes a hawk, which I assumed was Lola moved north moving from tree to tree along the west edge of the Model Boat Pond.  The hawk went after a pigeon, but it wasn’t clear if it got anything.  When I got home and looked at my pictures, I discovered the hawk was an immature hawk with a light eye color and brown tail!

Lola had made her way to Cedar Hill and was joined by Pale Male for a moment.  I wondered why he left the nest.  I guess he was helping guide the young hawk away or maybe he was showing Lola a cached piece of prey.

Lola stayed for quite awhile on Cedar Hill eating a squirrel (graphic pictures of this follow).  When I left she still hadn’t returned to the nest and was on a 5th Avenue building around 78th Street.

If the repairs worked on Pale Male and Lola’s nest, we should have eyasses any day now.  After three years without kids however, expectations are tempered.  Let’s hope for the best.

Some pictures from Sunday of Pale Male on a nearby building, flying and of Lola tending to the nest.