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23:25
Maybe Thunder will sleep in after approaching storms come through later from the west, as expected. Dan the weatherman said a few minutes ago that they should reach Tulsa in approx.1½ hours. If they hold together, there will be some strong winds along with the rain.

Thunder has been settled quietly in the nest, back to the camera. She just stirred a bit, then appeared to tuck her head under her right wing.

23:27 wonder of wonders, I've been gone from the computer for several hours, and am just tuning back in

...Thunder is back in the nest!!! I am so proud of her! She is quite the little flyer to be able to get all the way back up there! I had been worried about her in the oncoming weather, and not only does she have her flying chops up to speed, but her instincts / common sense (do birds have that?) are also quite sharp. Such a smart and good little hawk, our Thunder!. ... I must now read everything I missed this afternoon and evening!

11:30 PM CST: Thunder zonked, sleeping, quiet, in her nest, with only the ruffling of feathers.

NOAA Forecast for Monday night, Tuesday:
Overnight: Showers and thunderstorms likely. Some of the storms could produce heavy rain. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 71. South wind around 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New rainfall amounts between one and two inches possible.

Tuesday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Some of the storms could produce heavy rain. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 87. South wind between 10 and 13 mph. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.

Tuesday Night: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 62. South southeast wind 6 to 10 mph becoming northwest. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.

Wings2c: Donna is going to post the answer to your question about hawk fledglings returning to the nest, on her blog (for all her readers be able to see the answer, like she did with the various ways to find a fledgling), and I will copy it to the forum. Her new blog usually goes up about 1:30 AM CST so I'll come back and check on Thunder about then (the storms should be arriiving in Tulsa by then) and check Donna's site. It is so very comforting to know that Thunder has shelter from the storm, and she did it herself.

11:54 AM CST: The camera is now facing the storms approaching Tulsa. A fire dance of lightning and pale clouds.

Here is Donna's reply to your question, wings2c:
I can't say that all raptor fledglings have an urge to get back on the nest but Red-tail eyasses definitely do. During the branching phase in a tree nest the eyasses hop flap around in the tree and then attempt, not that hard usually, to get back to the nest for chow time and to roost. I suspect that like most young creatures it isn't easy to give up the comfort of mom and the siblings for the night right off.. Besides the nest has been the dining room since hatching and an eyass always thinks she's hungry when food appears.



As you say, with most songbird species, once they've fledged, they've fledged and their flight skills are not up to getting back to the nest. The parents tend them and the young hide in long grass or take cover in bushes for a day or two until their flight skills improve. In the meantime they are watching their parents procure food and they learn to get their own eventually by watching the parent.



With another raptor, Screech Owls, the Owlets continue to roost with the family for some time after fledging. Come sundown, the whole family flies off to "hunt" together. At first the parents hunt and the fledglings follow to each hunting spot, perch, and wait to be feed. First the spot with the yummy bugs, then the wet spot with the night-crawlers, etc. Therefore they learn the territory, what to look for in geography in terms of which food, and eventually they start hunting their own dinner.





Red-tails have made a grand adaptation to building nests in cities as their habitats have shrunk but there is a bit of a glitch in the system compared to their old nest sites. Often with building nests, if an eyass takes her first flight, there is no way to return to the nest without more mature flight skills. And a big skill that is often missing at first is the ability to gain great elevation. Suddenly there is no way to branch back because most buildings don't lend themselves to climbing. Just think if there had been no way for Thunder to climb the tower, she would have spent time, sometimes days attempting to figure out how to do it. She would first attempt to hop fly, no good. Then attempts would be made to climb other things that might suggest another path to the nest.



There have been instances where a fledgling was stranded on a city sidewalk attempting to climb back to the nest by hopping at the building. Which rarely works unless they can climb it in some way. In these instances one can take up guard duty a distance away and give the eyass a chance to find a way. Sometimes a parent will appear with food in the air, gain the eyasses attention, and attempt to lead her where she can climb something, but a young parent may not know to try this. Or the eyass may not "get it".



Sometimes a grounded fledgling, if after watching a good while, you're convinced it's stranded, can be gently guided/herded to a green space that has bushes, small trees, and big trees if it's very close. Then they can hop flap into a bush, branch into a small tree and then the big tree where their parents will continue in their care. The parents will be watching the whole thing, never fear.



In 2007 because of Pale Male Jr. and Charlotte's new and rather unique nest site, there was no green space for blocks, their single eyass was downed in a concrete plaza attempting to hop up the building during the morning rush hour. Unfortunately no hawk watchers or rehabbers were on the spot and good Samaritans not knowing how to help the eyass, called the zoo, the police, the park service, and anyone else they could think of. Which caused a huge deal as various city agencies disputed who had authority over the eyass. The upshot was, that the eyass had to go into a rehabber's care for several weeks while her parents went mad looking for her. Eventually she was given a clean bill of health, taken to Central Park where her parents heard her begging, snapped into parent mode, and took up where they'd left off. In the end all was well.



So what does one do in a case like that. It's tough. If one of the hawk watchers had come across the eyass fruitlessly jumping at the building with no close green space, they most likely would have picked her up, looked her over for injuries, and taken her to Central park. Then the Hawk watcher would have put her into a small tree, watched to make sure the eyass was acting normally and waited to make sure the parent's knew where she was.



But technically that might not follow the letter of the law in every case. Any citizen can rescue an animal who is in danger, in this case a federally protected bird, but then they theoretically are supposed to take the animal to a rehabber. Even if the animal seems uninjured, and is just in a dangerous place. If all turns out well, that technicality might be ignored, such as replacing a baby robin that has fallen out of the nest back into it. But I mention it so you will know the law, and are aware, just in case.



At Fordham University in the Bronx, Hawkeye and Rose, a bonded pair of Red-tails have a building nest which has trees only a few feet from the ledge they nest is on. Their eyasses regularly branch to the trees, branch to other trees, eventually go higher and get on another building which is taller than the nest building. Then they swoop back down to the nest for meals.

00:04 Camera still on the city, with lightening flashing frequently over Tulsa's downtown city lights. I'm guessing it's looking north? Somebody c...wow, 00:06 BIG lightening
Somebody correct me if I'm wrong on the direction.

I hope Thunder ...WOW again. Some storm. I hope Thunder is remaining in the nest through this weather. She is amazing! WHat a flight up there!!!

Bird Lover and bobdmac... Thanks for the pics! I am so grateful.. and bobdmac.... you d'man!... for the johnny-on-the-spot descriptions once again of Thunder's nest visit, once again. wOW: 00:09 more lightening, and it looks like it's raining also. I have to go and knock out now... Exhausted, but very happy about our Thunder... I'll "see" you guys later morning... 'night.

I forgot to copy over her sign-off (sorry) Donna Browne http://palemaleirregulars.blogspot.com/

12:57 AM CST Tuesday: The storm is over Tulsa now. The camera is facing into it. On radar it looks as if the storm is entering the Tulsa area from the NW. It appears that just the bottom edge of the storm is going to slide over Tulsa. That satellite dish that frames Thunder's nest site should block some of the rain.

When I read Bobdmac's first posting about the return to the nest, I thought he was hallucinating!  (Sorry, Bob)  But having reached the end of this thread, I guess I'm convinced.  Pretty amazing.

4:00 AM CST Tuesday. The camera has been focussed downward for quite a while now. I am not sure what I am seeing, maybe a bridge? The pavement looks wet. Radar shows the storms have moved away from Tulsa. This was a very good night for Thunder to fly back to her sheltered nest.

5:53 Thunder facing far left in nest bowl?

Catbird:

Wings2c: Donna is going to post the answer to your question about hawk fledglings returning to the nest, on her blog (for all her readers be able to see the answer, like she did with the various ways to find a fledgling), and I will copy it to the forum. Her new blog usually goes up about 1:30 AM CST so I'll come back and check on Thunder about then (the storms should be arriiving in Tulsa by then) and check Donna's site. It is so very comforting to know that Thunder has shelter from the storm, and she did it herself.

Thanks, I look forward to it.

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The human spirit needs places where nature has not been rearranged by the hand of man. ~Author Unknown

5:57 Thunder same position/raining hard thunder & lightning. I hope you folks are okay with yet another severe storm passing through Tulsa.

Thunder shaking feathers.there's shelter at least for her. Stay safe!!

Fascinating. Thanks for taking the time to reply. I have always thought nature had been given all the intelligence, but now I know they were.

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The human spirit needs places where nature has not been rearranged by the hand of man. ~Author Unknown