June 3, 2008: Fledglings in trees, on buildings

As of 8:00 this evening, both fledglings were perched high in large maple trees about a block apart, one on 5th avenue and the other on 6th. They were easily located by their frequent begging calls.

Video: View Raptor Cam LIVE

Their parents could be seen flying and soaring nearby riding the air currents around Big Pink. We saw mom visit both youngsters although she did not deliver any food while we were there.

 More: Complete blog about fledglings in trees

Later she perched on the corner of the roof on Big Pink where she could look down from high above and see both of her children. There was very little traffic and the calls of the young echoed off the buildings drawing confused looks from pedestrians passing below.

June 2, 2008: Chicks take flight!

The raptor cam red-tails took their first flights over the weekend.

Video: View Raptor Cam LIVE

We are getting lots of calls at Audubon about the youngsters perching on construction sites, building ledges and in street trees. This is completely normal.

They may even come to the ground at some point. They will be far better at flying than they will be at landing and it is likely that observers will see them miss targets and scramble down the sites of buildings and tumble through tree limbs.

 More: Complete blog about chicks taking flight

It can be quite terrifying to watch a bird learning to fly! You may or may not see the parents at any given time—they will usually stay cklose to the young but they have to keep an eye on both as well as hunt for food.

The announcement that Audubon intended to rescue the injured chick (not possible now since he died on Friday) generated a lot of interesting calls and e-mails, all very thoughtful and respectful I thought. Some people were very relieved that we were going to attempt a rescue. Other people felt strongly that we should let nature take its course. After 15 years of fixing injured birds at Audubon’s Wildlife Care Center, I have to admit that I am not quite sure what the right answer is in these types of situations. I appreciate the diversity of heartfelt perspectives.

 More: Read story about raptor chick's death

From a purely ecological perspective, there was clearly no reason to intervene. The injuries suffered by the nestling were not human caused; they were just part of the natural nesting cycle. As a general rule of thumb we do want to let nature take its course. It is best for the species if the strongest, healthiest and best adapted individuals survive. The fact is that birds are going through similar traumas every day in nests throughout our city…it is just occurring out of our sight and out of our reach.

However, it is also the human thing to do to want to help something that is clearly suffering and within reach.

 More: Read complete blog about thoughts on rescue

Had the chick survived a few more days, he most likely would have continued to stumble about the ledge begging piteously for food while his parent’s attention was increasingly diverted toward trying to care for his sisters who would have begun to fly. Somehow ignoring this suffering bird, just a few feet away from and entire office full of people, did not seem quite right either.

May 30, 2008 - Sad news about the male nestling:

The male nestling succumbed to his injuries either over night or this morning. He was found dead on the sidewalk this morning by the building’s custodians. As best we can piece things together based on several reports, he apparently he either moved (of fell) down a level on the fire escape last night and at some point fell to the sidewalk below.

KGW photo/Audubon Society

This is the struggling raptor chick. If you look closely, you can see a problem with his lower beak and his eyes are cloudy and swollen.

Audubon retrieved and necropsied (fancy word for an animal autopsy) the carcass. The nestling had many problems. It appears that at some point he fractured his jaw which accounts for the malformation. In the nest, fractures can occur because of some sort of trauma or they can be associated with nutritional deficiencies.

Employees in the offices that look out on the nest observed one of the parents accidentally landing on the nestling early on and trace some of his problems back to that point. The nestling was also suffering from a protozoan infection known as trichomoniasis.

Based on the injuries that we were able to observe, it is very unlikely that we would have been able to help him even if he had been captured alive.

 Details: Complete blog about chick's death | FULL STORY

We offer our thanks to him for the joy he brought to us during his short time on the planet.

His two sisters are increasingly active today. They are jumping all over the place. Many people have contacted us after not seeing them on raptor cam for extended periods wondering if they have taken their first flights. So far the answer is “no.” However they do seem to be moving up and down the fire escape ladders putting them out of the range of raptor cam.

First flight is very likely to happen quite soon….

May 29, 2008 - One chick struggling, others learning to fly

We have some good and some bad news about the red-tail nestlings.

We visited the office that looks out on the nest a carefully observed the red-tails from the windows this week. (This opportunity is not open to the public as it is an active business and also heavy visitation so close to the nest would stress out the birds.) The office residents are very cool and have put paper over much of the window to give the birds some privacy.)

First the good news:

The two larger chicks (females) are doing very well. They are likely within several days of fledging. Their estimated date of fledging is within about five days.

 Video: Close-up view of injured raptor chick

They jump from the window ledges to the railings practicing their flying skills and move rapidly about the fire escape landing. They look quite healthy. They are actively ripping and tearing food that mom brings to the nest. The nest itself is an absolute mess---full of animal parts, garbage the parents have incorporated into the structure and a lot of bird poop!

Now the sad news:

The third nestling (male) unfortunately is not doing so well. Many regular viewers of the raptor cam have noticed that he seems more lethargic than his siblings and does not eat as much. He also begs from his parents rather than self feeding.

 More: Raptor chick may need rescue

The male raptor chick appears to have some significant problems with his beak and his eyes. The lower part of his beak (the lower mandible) is over-grown and juts out beyond the upper part of his beak (upper mandible.)

 Details: Read more about struggling chick

This keeps him from being able to close his beak and makes it very difficult for him to rip and tear his own food.

May 23, 2008 - First flight coming soon

It typically takes red-tailed hawks about 45 days to go from hatch to first flight. The first attempts at flying are known as a "fledgling." By the time this happens they are full grown. In fact they may even appear larger than their parents because juvenile flight feathers are longer on first year birds than they are on adults.

Notice that the tail and flight feathers are most of the way grown and they are still partially encased in feather sheaths nearer to the body, but each day they are moving closer to being flighted! Notice too that the chicks' tails are brown rather than red---they will not get their easily recognizable colors until their second year. Since these red-tails hatched around April 16th, they are likely to take their first attempts at flight during the last week of May.

Click here for more on what to expect for first flight

A couple of quick answers to recently posted questions:

How do the young handle the heat: The feathers insulate the young from the heat and the cold. Like any animal they can overheat. At very high temperatures, the birds will featherless parts of their body such as legs and undersides of wings to allow internal heat to dissipate.

Click here to read more Q & A about heat

That is why they will sometime sit with their wings spread outward. They can also dissipate heat by panting. Some species such as storks and vultures (but not red-tails) will cool themselves by pooping on their own legs.

How do the chicks get water:

The chicks get all the water they need from their food. Birds of prey very seldomly actually drink in the wild.

May 12, 2008 - Your questions answered

Please keep the questions coming. It is much more fun to have this be interactive. I’ll try to answer as many as possible.

KGW / Audubon Raptor Cam

Three hawk chicks on May 7th in a downtown nest.

In response to “Barb” - the smaller adult is the male.

Hawks have what we call “reverse sexual dimorphism” which is a fancy way of saying the female is bigger than the male. With some hawk species the difference can be up to a third of their body weight. The average weight for an adult male red-tail in the Northwest is 1028 grams while the average weight of an adult female is 1224 grams.

In general the females tend to be big, broad, full bodied, kind the regal image we have of hawks, while the males tend to sometimes look more skinny and scrawny. There are different theories as to why the males are smaller. One theory has it that the female is bigger since she lays the eggs and does the majority of the incubating and brooding.

Another theory is that it simply allows them to better divide up the prey base with the females going after larger slower prey and the males going after the faster smaller prey.

My favorite theory is that females are bigger than males so that they effectively fend off unwanted romantic advances. The male usually initiates courtship and if the female does not agree she can send him packing. – Bob Sallinger

May 5, 2008 - Your questions answered

In this blog entry, I will try to answer a couple of the questions that have been appearing in the Raptor Cam Guestbook:

In response to “Cam in Irvington” who asked why mom was observed putting a new stick into the nest, the answer is that the hawks will continue to repair and add to the nest throughout the nesting season. The nest is taking quite a beating with the parents flying in and out and the chicks moving about. Basically they just add sticks and padding to keep things intact and warm. This also probably explains “Lorraine’s” question regarding why the mother appeared to be digging beneath the chicks.

In response to “Nervously Watching in Wilmington Delaware” who is concerned that one of the nestlings will “inevitably” fall out of the nest and suggests installation of safety netting, I would note that thousands of years of evolution have prepared the hawks for life in the sky…even at this very young age. They will wander about the nest ledge and increasingly they will stand right at the very edge and flap their wings to build up their strength. It can be really nerve wracking to watch especially if you have not spent a lot of time watching young birds. However this is something that all hawks do regardless of whether they are on a cliff or a tree or the fire escape of a downtown building. In fact the fire escape gives them far more room than the typical tree nest of cliff nest. It also provides them with multiple lower levels on which they might land should they leave the nest prematurely. “Fledging” (the first flights after leaving the nest) is hazardous for all birds regardless of where they nest. Think for example of all the osprey nesting along the rivers---if they fledge before they are able to fly, they are going straight into the river. The camera does give us some insight additional insight as to how hawk nestling develop and behave, but there is no more reason to install netting below this nest than there would be to do so below tens of thousands of other bird nests scattered throughout our city. In the end we have to trust and respect their wildness and let them be birds.

Finally, check out what is going down the chicks throats when they are being fed—they will now consume almost all the parts of the animals that are being brought into the nest. The exception is the stomach and intestines which the parents often toss aside. The other day folks noticed as mom dropped an entire intact pigeon leg and foot down into the mouth of one of the nestlings---tastes good and provides calcium!

April 30, 2008 - Chicks growing fast!

The red-tailed hawk nestlings are now 14 days old. At this age they are able to maintain their own body temperature and mom and dad are spending far less time brooding them. The parents are now focused intensively on finding lots of prey to keep their growing nestlings well fed.

KWG / Audubon Raptor Cam

Day 10 after hatching, three hawk chicks are busy eating and growing.

Feeding goes on from before dawn until after sunset. Most of the prey going into the nest continues to be city pigeons (rock doves) but the occasional rat has also made an appearance. Red-tails will eat a wide variety of prey including birds, small mammals, and reptiles and amphibians. Rats and pigeons just happen to be the most common prey items in the vicinity. The parents will feed not only meat from the prey but also organs and bits of bone which are necessary for proper development.

The young are growing very rapidly—during the first two weeks following hatching, their weight can increase nearly eight fold! Many people have noticed a visible bulge in the nestlings necks after they have been fed. This is the "crop." The crop is an enlarged section of the esophagus which serves as a food storage area. The parents can feed large quantities of food at one time which is then stored in the crop until it can move into the digestive system. A bulging crop means that the youngster has recently been well fed. At this time their feathers have also begun to emerge. Watch closely as they move about and you may see the primary feather sheaths emerging from the wings. In another couple of days the feathers will begin to erupt from the ends of these sheaths.

Many people are still expressing concern over the smaller nestling which sometimes gets out-competed for food and occasionally trampled by its siblings. Frequent viewers of raptorcam know that he usually gets his share—sometimes he just has to wait or sneak in from the sidelines. Most likely he is a male and the other two larger nestlings are females. Males are smaller than the females and this size differential (known as “reverse sexual dimorphism—a fancy way of saying females are bigger than males) will become more apparent as they continue to grow.

Even of you don’t see a parent at any given time, they are almost certainly nearby. They are on the watch out for predators that might take an opportunity to sneak in and snatch the young. The young do have talons and beaks but they are relatively weak and left unattended would be vulnerable to other aerial predators. Mom or dad may move away from the nest to find food but there is almost always at least one parent nearby keeping watch.

KGW Audubon Raptor Cam

Three hawk chicks hours after they hatched, from the Raptor Cam.

April 21, 2008 - Chicks hatch

The three red-tailed hawk eggs hatched on March 16th! Hatch occurred a few days later than expected but that may have been related to the cold weather.

The important think is that we appear to have three healthy nestlings, and mom and dad have been actively feeding and brooding them.

Red-tail chicks are helpless at the time of hatching. They have limited ability to move about, feed themselves or even keep themselves warm.

For the first week one of the parents will regularly brood the chicks throughout the day and night to keep them warm. They will also huddle close together for warmth. Brooding will be reduced as the chicks grow and the original coat of downy feathers is replaced by a second generation of thicker longer downy feathers and eventually by adult like contour feathers.

Both parents will hunt and feed with the male typically taking on the bulk of this work. Parents tear small pieces of food and place them into the beaks of the young.

Video: Hawk delivers rat to nest

Video: Hawk feeds babies

The young are already extending their heads to grab food from their parents and occasionally pushing one another out of the way to feed first. Food is going into the nest almost continuously so hopefully the parents will be able to provide sufficiently for the whole nest.

Video: Chicks fight for food (4/18)

The red-tail chicks will typically remain in the nest for 45-46 days after hatching. In less than seven weeks they will grow to full size, from egg to fully-flighted bird.

April 16, 2008 - Hatching imminent

Hatching: By now the chicks are nearing their projected hatch date. The chicks fill virtually the entire interior of the eggs that was once occupied by the yoke and the albumen.

Once the chick has broken into the air chamber it will begin to peck at the interior of the air chamber working its way slowly around the edge. The first break through to the outside world is known as ‘pipping.” Click here for the complete blog about hatching.

March 18, 2008 - Welcome!

Welcome to the 2008 RaptorCam Blog. This blog will feature periodic updates about the raptorcam red-tails as they progress through their nesting cycle.

This year the hawks are nesting one floor down from where they nested during 2007. They began building the new nest in January and began laying eggs around March 8th. Click here for the complete "welcome to RaptorCam" blog

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