RTH cam in NY

[Donna]

Newest update on Pip! 

http://rogerpaw.blogspot.com/2011/07/pip-flies-to-and-eats-pigeon-meal-on.html

Oh my, that's cutting it close....to humans! Glad they left her alone. Thanks.

[Bonnie]

There is a real concern that too many people want to get close to her.  Folks are really trying not to post too much info about her whereabouts.

[Kris G.]

This is so sad-

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/28/violet-the-hawk-has-worsening-leg-problems/#more-375665

[Donna]

This is so sad-

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/28/violet-the-hawk-has-worsening-leg-problems/#more-375665

Oh no, poor Violet. I wish they could have caught her last year. Poor girl. That leg looks awful. Yeah I agree, 

[Bonnie]

While quite so sad and uncomfortable for all, humans and especially Violet, birds hide their problems almost until it is impossible to treat them.  If she is captured, she may not be happy in a captive environment which is ultimately the case.  It is a very tough call on this one.

[MAK]

  Poor sweet girl! Do we know how old Violet is? She's a real beauty! I hate how much she's already suffered! 

[Donna]

Many thanks to Marie Winn, author of Red-tails in Love , andhttp://mariewinnnaturenews.blogspot.com/ for posting John Blakeman's thoughts on the injured Washington Square female, Violet, while I've been out of commission.

There is no hope for Violet. Absolutely nothing can be done to save, treat, or cure her debilitated foot. She's doomed. It is impossible for a hawk to live on only one leg. Sooner or later, the un-rested, always-stood-upon remaining foot will get bumblefoot, an infection and loss of tissue very similar to human bed sores. Once that begins, the hawk will die.

So far, bumblefoot hasn't set in, probably because she's able to spend some time in the air, allowing microcirculation in the foot. But in Dec and Jan, with 16 hours of cold nights, the leg will be stressed. The game will be over.
And nothing could be done to treat the dead foot if she is trapped. Bumblefoot and death would result, just as in the wild, but perhaps with a short delay.

The sad, biological truth is that Violet is doomed. My scenario is this. In a few weeks (or sooner), bumblefoot will set in. Violet will become sick and sedentary, and will fly off to an obscure building nook or cranny and die without human observation. She'll just disappear, unseen.

With that, a new floater female will fly in and in a week or less take up with Bobby. Pair bonding will occur. A new pair will take up reproduction at the NYU nest.

And once again, the band had absolutely nothing to do with any of Violet's tribulations. It was properly and safely applied, at the right size and right place (the tarsus), five years ago. The injury was a squirrel or rat bite that crushed bone and ripped tendons, ligaments, and cartilage. Healing was never complete. It couldn't have been. Too much tissue damage. She was fortunate to survive as long and as well as she did.

And some will ask how I can know all of this. Well, in the 70s and 80s I did hawk rehabbing and had several foot-injured hawks, caught in animal traps, with crushed toes or foot joints. I was able to save only those where a single toe was crushed, by the toe's amputation. When there was greater damage, the hawk had to stand on the uninjured foot, which in time, usually a few weeks, always had lethal bumblefoot set in. My vet and I tried tetracycline treatments for the bumblefoot infection, but it never works. The bird always dies. Bumblefoot in one-legged hawks is universally fatal.

Violet isn't the first haggard (adult) or immature red-tail to die from injuries caused by prey attempted in capture. Rabbits and jack rabbits can give lethal and skin-tearing kicks. Even rats, if not quickly dispatched, can bite severely. And wings can be broken on limbs or fences when plunging onto fleeing prey. Many red-tails die with broken wings on the ground.

Life for red-tails is not always as calm or tranquil as it can appear in a Manhattan nest cam or through a pair of binoculars there. Sadly, we are witnessing the other side of red-tail life, the inevitable death that eventually frequents them all.
--John Blakeman

As it does for all forms of life, including ourselves. Therefore we must not forget to use the time we have, to watch, to truly see, to revel in the beauty of all life, including our own.

When the time comes for these beautiful, smart, infinitely fascinating creatures, these well loved Red-tailed Hawks who have shared their lives with us, to go before us, we grieve deeply their passing.

Without fail we wonder if we could not have done more to help them, somehow to have eased their last hours, and perhaps to have kept them among us for a little longer.

There isn't a day that goes by that I do not think of sweet Tristan of the Cathedral looking down at me with a "So-there-you-are-where-have-you-been?" expression, or of no nonsense Charlotte, clever Pale Male Jr. training Big and Little to about face in the air, long-lived, wise Hawk-eye, the giant Athena, Riverside Dad building nest after nest, of Houston St. Dad and his son Hous, both we did manage to lay hands on near the end but who left us anyway, and Lola the valkyrien who brilliantly battled intruders with her mate Pale Male but who also diligently and with another kind of courage sat on eggs year after year that never hatched.

And though, in some cases, we may not have been there to "help them" at the end, not showing themselves to us was their choice. Perhaps if they had to go, even perhaps with pain and discomfort, they preferred to pass free in their own land-- with their mate, the trees they had roosted in, a view of the beautiful sky they had flown, and with the wind rippling gently through their feathers.

Donegal Browne

Sent to me by Kris G....

I feel so bad for Violet!

[MAK]

 

[Donna]

THEY CAUGHT VIOLET! This is a very Merry Christmas!!

http://rogerpaw.blogspot.com/2011_12_01_archive.html

Her feet are bad, so maybe no release!

Thank you so much Kris G for sending this great news to me. Now, at least, Violet will get the best of care!   

[Wing Goose]

What wonderful news about Violet !
         
            Hugs to all,
                  Lola                       

[Kris G.]

New updates on Violet and Bobby-report by Roger_Paw:

Violet is eating well and resting - December 25, 2011
Good morning and Merry Christmas. The report from the Horvaths is that Violet ate well last night and was given pain medication and antibiotics. She is resting well.

She was skinny but surprisingly not emaciated so she had been getting some nutrition out in the wild (most likely in the form of small mice she could swallow whole since she had so much trouble holding and tearing into prey as large as rats).

Her good foot is in pretty bad shape in all actuality. It does not have much mobility so it was surprising how well she was able to hold onto perches. She is able to balance on her own though as we've seen in the wild.

She is in a quiet, calm place so she can rest.


Bobby and his new mate(?) - December 25, 2011

Bobby palled around with a new red-tailed hawk friend today in Washington Square Park. All signs indicate the new hawk is Bobby's new mate. They hung around together all day. They flew together, perched together, fought off dive-bombing peregrine falcons together, did a courting talon-lock dance in the sky together, and ended up roosting together in a tree.

If this new partner 'keeps', we'll most likely see new eggs in the spring. Today was full of activity so I will get right to it and start fleshing out this post with all the pics from the day but wanted to bring you this update now.

[Donna]

http://rogerpaw.blogspot.com/2011/12/bobbys-new-girlfriend-taking-up.html#comment-form Bobby's new girl.....maybe!

Thanks to Kris G who sent this to me.

Then you have this article: Violet on the mend!

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/violet-red-tailed-hawk-washington-square-park-mend-article-1.997069?localLinksEnabled=false

This just in from Kris G!

Make no comparisons with human mating or dating practices or ethics. These are wild red-tailed hawks, with very different biological instincts and behaviors.

Yes, Bobby has “taken up� with a new mate, so very quickly upon Violet’s capture and removal from Washington Square Park (which is best for her, given her declining state). But the appearance and acceptance of the new formel (female) is quite typical, particularly at this time, the very start of the reproductive season.

At Christmas Eve, upon learning of Violet’s “rescue,� I predicted that a new formel would be in the area within a few days; a week at most. I was wrong. It was just a few hours, the very next day. Understand that this was not perfidy, indiscretion, or selfishness on Bobby’s part. It’s pure, natural, and quite perfect red-tailed hawk biology.

So let’s watch what happens. There is now the highest chance that the new pair will fledge three eyasses this summer. In the meantime, hawkwatchers in Washington Square Park should be looking high above, to watch some thrilling courtship flights in the coming weeks. Bobby and the new formel (“Noelle?� – Seems right, since she appeared on Christmas Day.) will loft together into the sky in circling soars. Then, Bobby will soar much higher, with “Noelle� just a few hundred feet above the building tops. From his height several hundred feet above, Bobby will fold his wings and descend in a thrilling, accelerating dive directly at his new mate, soaring below. Just as he’s about to strike the new formel, at over 200 mph, she will instantly tilt sideways and allow Bobby to plunge through her formerly-occupied airspace.

Bobby will instantly open his wings and divert his momentum in a U-shape flight back upwards, bringing him back to the level of the formel. It’s one of the most thrilling avian flights on the planet. Only a few get to see it, and so seldom in cities. New Yorkers in January and February need to be looking above the trees and buildings in search of these red-tail spectacles.

Here’s to a wonderful new breeding season at NYU and Washington Square Park—and to Violet’s peaceful care and passing now in the least stressful conditions. My best regards to the Horvaths, the New York Times, NYU, and all the WSP hawkwatchers who are making all of this possible.

–John Blakeman

[Donna]

http://rogerpaw.blogspot.com/2011/12/both-hawks-in-nest-december-28-2011.html#comment-form

They named her "Rose" and she moved right in!

Thanks Kris G

[Donna]

Violet's fighting a losing battle with her foot! 





WINORR- Wildlife In Need of Rescue and Rehabilitation

[MAK]