John Blakeman Interview Part 1

Important Answers about the NYU Red-Tailed Hawk nest from John Blakeman

Who is John Blakeman?
John Blakeman of Huron, Ohio, is a life-long student of this species in the wild. I am a licensed Master Falconer, flying a red-tailed hawk. I have conducted a breeding project with this species in the early 19070s, have trapped and banded dozens of red-tailed hawks in Ohio, and have been involved in a number of scientific studies of this species in Ohio and Nevada. I advise principals involved with The Franklin Institute urban hawk nest in Philadelphia, along with those monitoring Pale Male and other red-tailed hawks in Central Park. I am a retired biology teacher and have studied wild red-tails since 1968. I’m as familiar with the biology and natural history of this species as anyone.

Should the band be removed from Violet’s leg?
No, it should not be removed. At the start of incubation this year, Violet’s right leg was clearly very swollen, and she did not have full control of its toes. It was erroneously presumed — by both me and others at the time — that the distal leg swelling was caused by the band, that it was too tight and was pinching off proper circulation. The situation appeared ominous.

However, much has been learned and observed since then. First, the time and location of Violet’s banding has been learned, and this information clearly indicates that there is no present problem that should be addressed.

The hawk, a female (a “formel”), was banded in October 2006, at Delaware Water Gap, just east of the Pocono’s at the junction of New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. Significantly, this was five years ago. If the band were too small, or was pinching into the hawks leg, the bird would have suffered and died many years ago. Because of the length of successful life the hawk has experience since 2006, it is very clear that the band has not been the cause of the observed swelling or reduced toe flexibility. A band can’t be pinching a hawk’s leg for five years. Very clearly, the band was properly applied and was not too small or pinching the tarsus, the leg bone.
In fact, because the band now sits far above the lower junction of the tarsus and the toes, it is clear that it is not pinching the leg; that it was freely able to slide up the leg when it swelled.

Is Violet in pain or discomfort?
Absolutely not. I have watched her for many hours in the last two weeks, and she is clearly in no discomfort, pain or stress. But how can that be known? Red-tailed hawks simply do not engage in any of the following behaviors when in pain or discomfort. Violet has been observed preening frequently and at length, both during the day and at night (with the wonderful night camera images). Preening in the comprehensive manner Violet exhibits doesn’t happen with pain, discomfort, stress, or anxiety. She is altogether well.

But the quintessential expression of peace and mental tranquility, as any experienced falconer will tell, is when the bird “rouses,” lifts her feathers, shakes them violently, and allows them to settle naturally back down onto the body. I’ve seen Violet rouse a number of times, and each time it has been a full, powerful rouse that red-tails do when they are happy and contented. From Violet’s preening and rousing behaviors, she simply is in no discomfort, regardless of the views of those unfamiliar with hawk behaviors.

What DID cause the swelling and toe debility?
Doubtless, Violet has had a swelled lower foot, and she clearly does not have full control of the toes of her right foot. She cannot flex the toes with full speed, strength, or extent. The only explanation for this is that she’s been previously injured while capturing prey. Most probably, she has been bitten by the strong, sharp, and long incisors of a squirrel she attempted to kill. But she is recovered — incompletely, but adequately — from this injury. She sits, stands, and walks on the leg. She has learned that when killing prey she must use her left leg, toes, and talons to make the kill. But for as long as five years she’s managed to live very successfully.

The swelling everyone saw at the start of incubation (now much reduced) almost surely was caused by the winding of plastic thread materials around her leg. These had been picked up and brought to the nest as nest lining materials. In the countryside, such materials are usually leaves, grass strands, and other natural materials. But in the city, these hawks picked up what looked to them to be equivalent materials, the Easter grass clump and some other fibrous materials, some of which got entangled around Violet’s leg, causing the swelling.

But she didn’t like this and was able to remove the strands with her powerful beak. It’s no longer a problem.

Thank you, Mr. Blakeman for your patience in answering our many questions concerning Red-Tailed Hawks, Violet, Bobby and Pip in particular. I look forward to sharing more of this interview in the near future!
Saidhbhin

Got a Question!?

After my Post from Yesterday I recieved an e-mail from some very helpful and nice person which I herewith want to thank once again for her help! now since I have a mail adress I will start collecting questions from you all to collect them and send them to Andy alltogether.

So once again, whenever you have a question concerning the Hawk Cam, send it to aenigmadragon@hotmail.com (recommended) or post it as a comment to this post, I'll gather all the questions sent to me until coming sunday and post Andy's answers in our blog FAQ's as soon as he replied.

I'll be awaiting your questions soon :D

Pip's Excursions

Many of us have been surprised today, seeing that Pip disappeared again. Now that he's discovered the wide, wide world of the ledge he won't spend that much time on the nest any longer. Pictures like this could become the norm if there wasn't Andy from City Room. He changed back to the other camera, even if it is technically pretty difficult as he told us yesterday.
We're still trying to contact Andy to find out more about his plans for the cam and the possibilities he has but since it seems to be pretty hard to get an e-mail adress of him we may need some additional time and help.

So here's the official appeal to Andy from City Room, if you could contact us at aenigmadragon@hotmail.com we'd really appreciate and we assure that your e-mail adress won't be given out if you don't want us to do so!

If you have a specific question you'd like to ask him or you'd like to know? Then you can also send us an e-mail to aenigmadragon@hotmail.com, I will collect all received questions and if I get the chance to interview Andy, I'll come up with your questions too.

So here we go.. the new Camera again.

Asides of that we had John Blakeman in the chat again and we spoke about Pip's future and surviving chances. Here some Quotes:

The first question was about the concern of many of us that Pip could fall from the ledge..
JohnBlakeman: No one needs to wach the kid. She has enough sense not to fall off.

JohnBlakeman: P will be spending much more time out on ledge, flapping wings and learning to walk. If you saw it, you'd be anxious.

JohnBlakeman: Unless there is a new camera, this will be much or most of what we see in coming weeks. The ledge has the edge.

JohnBlakeman: By the end of June, when P is fledged, the empty nest syndrome will be very oppressive here.

JohnBlakeman: But will the entire Pip story be told, especially the hard parts after she leaves Wash Sq park? The truth? P has only a 20% chance of surviving the winter.

JohnBlakeman: After P leaves, when she's on her own, she will have trouble finding habitats with enough prey. Most first-year RT's starve.

JohnBlakeman: No mating for P until her second yr, at least.

JohnBlakeman: The haggards (P and B) will watch P this summer, and provide food if she's starving. But in Sep she's outta here, on migration.

Can't pip just fly into another region where there's more food?
JohnBlakeman: No, that's why P has such a low chance of becoming and adult. There are already  so many out there, using all the good habitat.

bluish: and JB, so the parents will still recognize him during the summer but not afterwardsJohnBlakeman: yes, summer will watch and protect. Will drive out P in fall.

Could pip freeze to death in winter because of the cold temperature or why are her survival chances so small?
JohnBlakeman: No, it'a not temperature. She can take anything here in winter. It's availability of voles and mice to capture.

So Pip could die because there are not enough food?
JohnBlakeman: Actually, it's not even the rodents they eat, it's the availability of open habitats where they can hunt those animals. Most have adults who drive out the young.


Hope this answered some of your questions, if you've got some questions you'd like to ask John Blakeman while he's away you're always welcome to send them to aenigmadragon@hotmail.com, I may open up a category for your questions then in this blog.


That's all Folks!

!> City Room Update

Btw, there's a City Room Update on the NYT Website about Violets Leg Band,
here's the link: Hawk Cam | The Story of Violet’s Leg Band

Where's Pip!?

It was 10 AM when suddenly Pip disappeared from our screens but this time it was neither a technical difficulty nor the weather, she just walked out of the nest, exploring the left (so far unexplored) part of the ledge.

Our Livestream community freaked out, discussing if there was a ledge or not and how big it was when suddenly Andy From City Room changed the view to another camera which offered us a new view of the left side of the nest and the ledge.

"Hey There!"

 

"Look mommy I can fly!"
"Don't you dare to do that!"

"naaah.. okay!"

After Pip returned into the nest Andy changed back to the old camera, first in 16:9, wich then changed to the old 4:3 Format again.

@NYT: We'd really appreciate if you guys could spring for a new cam with better quality, colours and the new 16:9 format! In return you'll recieve better screenshots from us ;>

So that's it for this morning,
Your Hawk Cam Blog~

Vocabulary Terms

TERM	DEFINITION
Buteo	buzzard,
Albinism	occur more frequently in this species than in any other bird of prey
Clutch	two to three white eggs spotted with brown
Incubation	approximately 28 - 32 days
parental care	approximately 6-7 weeks
Adult plumage	obtained at 2-3 years of age
sexual maturity	2-3 years of age
diet	mice, rats, rabbits, birds, squirrels and some insects
brain	Eyes are larger than the brain
self feeding	4 weeks of age
	at 5 weeks, hawklets can tear intact prey organisms apart
	6 weeks, hawklets are almost fully grown
	7 weeks, begin to gledge
hunting	learn to hunt through trial and error
	parent birds ignore and typically quickly lose their often noisy young when they go out hunting
	12 weeks young birds are on their own and take on the role of active hunters
	*Red-tails are fast learners. Will quickly acquire behaviors based on hunting successes.
Band	A plastic or metal identification ring that goes around the bird's leg
Beak	keratin covering of the mouth protecting the tongue and mouth opening
Blood feathers	Feathers which still are still growing and have blood supplied through the shaft
Bloom	healthy sheen to the feathers indicating proper nutrition, management and waterproofing
Bob	Up-and-down head movement showing interest
Brood Patch	Patch of bald skin on Mother's belly where she warms her Eyases
Cast	regurgitation of indigestible fur and bones
Cloaca	external opening to expel fecal matter. In birds there is a single opening for intestinal (fecal matter), urinal (urine & urates) & genital tracts
Crop	Vascular sac were food is first digested. softens it and separates the digestibles from the indigestibles
Eyas	downy baby raptor; no pin feathers started. raptor before fledgling
Eyrie	raptor nest site
Feak	When the bird cleans his beak
Fledgling	immature bird who has flown at least once, but is still not in control and remains under the care of adult birds
Haggard	A raptor that was over 1 year old
Hallux	toe which faces backwards. The talon most responsible for puncturing the vitals of prey.
Mail	The breast feathers
Malar stripe	dark streak of feathers below the eye. much like athletes putting blacking under their eyes to prevent glare.
Mantle	To hide food from onlookers by covering with wings
Molt	annual shedding of the feathers
Mute	Referring both to the fecal matter and to the act of defecating. To mute usually refers to falcons defecating where the material drops from the cloaca straight down
Penned-Hard	Fully grown feathers
Post Prandrial Stupor	Sleeping after eating
Preen	Straightening feathers with the beak - grooming
Preen gland	gland at the base of the tail that produces oil important to proper feather and beak health as well as waterproofing. The bird spreads this oil over the feathers and body through preening actions
Principals	longest two feathers on a hawk's wing
Rangle	small, smooth stones ingested by bird to help clean out crop
Rouse	Shaking feathers out as a grooming action
Slice	propelling the fecal matter out of the cloaca
Snite	To sneeze
Stoop	rapid decent from altitude, usually in pursuit of quarry
Tiercel	male of a hawk or falcon. The term is based on the Latin word for "third," and stems from the fact that male hawks and falcons are usually smaller than the female often by roughly 1/3
Vision	red-tail hawk has vision that is 8 times better than a human. This allows them to see small animals moving on the ground from as far away as 100 feet in the air

I hope this vocabulary list helps you as much as it has me. If you have any suggestions as to words/terms to add, please don't hesitate to contact me!

Cheryl

Project Pip

“Project Pip”
For those of us who have been faithfully watching the progress of Pip, Violet & Bobby via the “Live From the Nest” cam sponsored by The New York Times, we have learned that the timing is now at a critical point in efforts to have Pip banded before she fledges. The only way to follow Pip’s progress over the years will be by a band. Otherwise, we’ll never know what happens to her. Will she return to this area to start a nest of her own? Will she take up residence in another state? I, for one, would like to know the answers.
This has been quite a learning experience for me and many other and I certainly don’t want it to stop when Pip leaves the nest. Yes, Violet and Bobby should return to this nest next year (should NYU allow it to remain) and hatch a new brood, however, Pip will always be the first and always be the most special to us.
Please join my efforts to encourage President John Sexton and DEC/DEP officials to band Pip. I am listing what information on snail mail and email addresses I could find.

John Sexton, Ph.D, J.D.President, New York University
70 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012
john.sexton@nyu.edu

Letters to the Editor
The New York Times
620 Eighth Avenue
New York, NY 10018
editorial@nytimes.com
　
Steven Zahn
Regional Supervisor of Natural Resources
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
1 Hunter’s Point Plaza
47-40 21st Street
Long Island City, NY 11101-5407
R2natres@gw.dec.state.ny.us

Christopher Nadareski, Raptor Specialist
New York City Department of Environmental Protection
59-17 Junction Blvd, 19th Floor
Flushing, NY 11373
Email: http://cnadareski@dep.nyc.gov

Michael Bopp, Press Office
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
625 Broadway
Albany, NY 12233-1016
Press@gw.dec.state.ny.us

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg
City Hall
New York, NY 10007
http://www.nyc.gov/html/mail/html/mayor.html

If anyone can supply an email address for Chris Nadareski, it would be greatly appreciated. Chris is the New York City raptor special who heads up the Peregrine Falcon program. He is also an experience bander!

I am looking forward to making "Project Pip" a life-long endevor -- I hope you are, too!
Saidhbhin