community.kjrh.com

1:50 a.m. (Tulsa time). 11:50 p.m. So. Cal. time.Man we're going to bed late!!! Will be hard to get up tomorrow.
O.K.... so at least three of you concur about the red tail. And with catgirl's sighting of Jay today at the tower... at the same location that Russell spotted the hawk in his photos... I'm guessing that it must be Jay in Russell's pics. Speaking of pics... catgirl, I got a kick out of the Jay-in-the-rain shots!... Nice to know their feathers are water-repellent enough to be able to still fly when wet! He does look like he can't wait to "towel off", though, doesn't he?
Back to the length of the tail on Russell's hawk pics... It does seem shorter than Thunder's. And I think I do remember bobdmac saying that the juvenile's tail is longer (the "training wheel" for beginner flyers thing...) . And speaking of bobdmac, I hope he's o.k. Anybody hear from him lately? .... well, I'm mush-for-brains at this hour... gotta go t' bed before I turn into a pumpkin.... g'night and God bless y'all!!!

F.decorate(_ge('button_bar'), F._photo_button_bar).bar_go_go_go(2618785273, 0); This looks like Thunder to me, by the brown barred tail that is longer than the wing tips.Are there any pics of Kay and Jay together? What are their distinguishing markings? I find it hard to tell even the NYC hawks apart when I just see a photo of one alone, and the light conditions can really change the way the feathers appear.  Sometimes Pale Male is very light, at other times you notice how much color he has.

11:04 a.m. Good morning! Rainy day again in Tulsa. Camera on S. Peoria looking north/northwest at stormy northern sky looming over downtown skyline.
sallyls: Hi! ... saw your post...I agree: I think that kiddo on the telephone pole is Thunder.
Regarding pics of Kay and Jay together:
Go to the main hawk page:
http://www.kjrh.com/content/news/hawks/default.aspx
then click on "***NEW: HAWKS' NEST VIDEO ARCHIVE***"
Then toggle down, and see that there are a few archived videos to look at with both Kay and Jay.

Thanks for your input Sallyls.  I get confused all the time as the differences can be hard to detect from a distance, and the lighting and angle can change things in an instant!!  In the instance of this picture, I thought I could detect Jay's distinctive white eyebrows.  Plus at that time I had been watching one hawk on the tower which I could hear call out repeatedly then another hawk appeared around the tower and both took off together.  One immediately came back, I could still see one circling, and the third one landed on the utility pole.  And at the distances, your guess is as good as any!!  I just assumed the one calling out was Thunder, the one that appeared out of nowhere on the tower was Kay, and the one landing on the ultility pole was Jay.
And then when they are wet......

13:20 - Camera on empty nest.  Rain has stopped.  I just came back from driving by the station and if the camera could just look down and to the left a little bit we could see Jay sitting on the "golden rod" antenna just below the nest.  I am assuming it was Jay because the tail was red and he seemed smaller than Kay.  The chest was lighter.  I did not have my camera, sorry.  It seems that Jay is staying pretty close to the nest, he seems to visit more than Kay or Thunder.  I did not see any other hawks perched or soaring.

Hawk observations from this morning -

9:15-9:30ish observed (who I think is) Jay on antenna on side of KJRH tower.  I wonder if he spent the night there since he was in similar spot last night at dusk.
When I returned at 11:15, the hawk was on the pole right under the nest satellite dish, and it was POURING.  After about 15 minutes it let up and he proceeded to groom for the next 1 hr 15 minutes, spreading his wings , shaking them all out, scratching, grooming some more, standing with wings slightly outstretched to catch the drying breezes and breaking through sunlight, scan around occasionally, and then more grooming, shaking, and scratching.  Looked like just about every feather got attention!!
Then he took off to the west and I lost him in the trees as usual  (not for lack of looking!!)

Way to go gunit!!  So glad you saw him too - I was probably around there somewhere also!!  But yes, saw definite red tail also - and then from down below when sun would shine through it - turned golden!
I did have my camera so tonight hopefully can add a few more pictures at flickr site.  Thanks for posting that one here sallyls.  I have not figured out how to do that yet....

I've been watching the empty nest intermittently today hoping to catch a glimpse for myself.  Darn!

gunit, catgirl - thanks for the observation notes, its fun to hear what you are seeing there!  I don't envy you trying to identify these hawks; from the video clips I've just watched (thanks for the tip socal), both Kay and Jay have distinct white eyebrows, though I agree Jay's are more pronounced, and all three for sure have a pretty white "bib" under their chins, so except for size, and tail color, man, you guys have a tough time telling them apart especially at such a distance! Thunder should have more dark streaks on her *** than the adults, so a front shot of her would not be as much like a cream-colored football, but the adults should have a dark "belly band" of feathers, too, just less than the juvenile. Look forward to reading your posts and hopefully catching a glimpse on the screen!

I think the editor deleted my descriptive word for Thunder's streaked front-side!  :0

Chest instead of the B word seems to work.

catgirl:

Way to go gunit!!  So glad you saw him too - I was probably around there somewhere also!!  But yes, saw definite red tail also - and then from down below when sun would shine through it - turned golden!
I did have my camera so tonight hopefully can add a few more pictures at flickr site.  Thanks for posting that one here sallyls.  I have not figured out how to do that yet....

Catgirl - I was in the parking lot of Best Electric (37th & Peoria right next to the station) around noon.  I got out and observed the tower for about 10 minutes.  I drove down 37th to Quaker (I think) to abserve from behind the station on the East side.  I have seen Thunder in this neighborhood before.  Mostly I see Jay there.  I had to get back to work so I was only there 10 or 15 minutes.  Where were you?

This may be nothing, but I live about 3 miles east of the station near 51st and Harvard. For the last few days I have been seeing a young red-tail that I think might be Thunder hanging out in the park nearby.  Has the white spot on the back of the head, cream colored eyebrows, speckled belly band and longer, non red tail like Thunder. Does not seem to roost there, but does seem to hang out there a lot lately. The little park is full of food items for a hawk.  Is it possible that Thunder has learned to hunt and kill prey well enough that it would be time to stake out it's own territory?

And for those that are missing the actual Cam action of young eyas, since Thunder has fledged and the Falcons have fledged, there is a really fun Barn Owl cam on a nest in the UK that is a real Hoot (Pun intended)  There are three owlets, hatched almost two weeks apart, so there is a huge difference in the largest vs the smallest one, however, the smallest one makes up for it's small size by being quite fiesty and holds it's own.  I have seen it upend the oldest and snatch the food right away from it, and gobble it whole, like a toddler snatching somthing away from an older sibling.

 

http://www.barnowltrust.org.uk/infopage.html?Id=237 

links to the nestcam diary and in the upper right is a link to the two cams for the nest. One is inside the box, one is outside the box in the barn.

 

enjoy

 

RC

16:40 - Thunder in the nest!!!!!!

1l:42 - Exit stage right!!

However brief, it was a visit to the nest!!  No food, so I am gone.

16:45 - Now Jay is sitting on the bar in front of the camera.

Who else is watching this?  Sally are you getting your look?