Rosie Noelle Bobst -- It's Official

COMING SOON -- TO A COMPUTER MONITOR NEAR YOU

NYT/NYU will once again Present the "Live From the Nest" LIVE HawkCam showing LiveStream 24/7 coverage of the 2012 Bobst Family nest, located on NYU campus on the 12th floor of the Bobst Library Building -- right outside the window of NYU President, Dr. John A. Sexton.

Hopefully, Bobby and his new mate, Rosie, will have a new clutch of eggs by mid-March!

Keep checking the website at:  HawkCam

  

2012 is "A New Beginning" ... for Us and for The Bobst Family!

"A New Beginning" Here it is, folks, my first Bobst Family painting for the 2012 nesting season! Bobby's new mate is quite the demanding formel! Here she is telling him of the changes she wants made to the nest ... first and foremost, is the removal of the dang Easter grass!

   Everyone is ready and waiting for a new season to begin! Our lovely Lady Hawk has posed in the traditional NYU Violet & White colours for her GRAND PREMIER!  Now, we all anxiously await the nesting season to officially begin ... when the techies yell "ACTION" and the Hawk Cam starts broadcasting once again!

2012 promises to be a stellar year. Our new Lady Hawk has quite a "standard" to live up to as her every action will be measured against the awesome nurturing, devotion, and strength, shown by our beloved Violet during the 2011 nesting season. Pip was a fascinating and precocious eyas. Her interactions with Violet & Bobby were incredible to behold ... However, the thought of multiple eyasses this year have all of us "God Parents" or "Aunts & Uncles" biting our fingernails in anticipation of a Full House -- er, nest!

Violet Bobst -- Rest in Peace

Pip's mother, Violet passed away on Thursday, December 29th. She was a brave, beautiful, caring mother and will be greatly missed by all who loved her!  

God Speed, Pip

  The hardest, yet happiest day, was June 23, 2011. On that day, Pip fledged from the 12th floor ledge of the NYU Bobst Library Building at WSP ... never to return.
While we wish her "God Speed" on her journey into migratory status, our hearts are already filled with the empty nest syndrome discovered by all parents when their beloved child leaves home for the first ... and last ... time.
Although we are only her God-parents, we have loved this Red Tailed Hawk and her Mom & Dad for so long and so intensely, that the bonds formed can never be broken. — at NYU-New York University Bobst Library.

Any Copyright infringement is strictly unintentional. I legally purchased the song "Time to Say Goodbye" from Amazon.com as an MP3 download. Additionally, I give full credit for the song to Andrea Bocelli & Sarah Brightman in the video credits. I will appreciate it if you would let me know if this, in any way, constitutes an infringement, and I will remove the music. Thank you. Saidhbhin

Fledging Draws Near

Early morning jump-flaps! Many a time we would log on to the "Live From the Nest" cam only to wonder "Where's Pip" and all the typical questions would start showing up in the chat room! "Where's Pip" "Did she fall out of the nest" "Is she gone" and the answer was always the same ... "No, Pip is ledging - out of view of the cam" but occasionally she'd grace us with her presence and give us a glimpse of her beauty and grace as we nervously bit our nails in fear of her falling before she was able to fly! Oh, boy, those are some memorable times, for sure! — at NYU-New York University Bobst Library

  Our girl is "Ready to Soar" She fledged on June 23, 2011 and we celebrated with laughter and tears ... and go back and watch the videos again and again and again! We can just imagine the feeling of pride and accomplishment! We, as her adopted god-parents, felt that pride, too! Our little girl has grown up into quite a beautiful young lady!


— with Violet, Pip and Bobby at NYU-New York University Bobst Library.

Tug-O-War

On June 7, 2011, Pip & Violet had a game of "Tug-O-War" over some squirrel guts! We're all anxiously watching her survival skills in preparation for the day that she fledges ... after all, we want our Precious Girl to have the BEST chance ... yet, here she is, just two short weeks away from her anticipated fledge date, and she STILL has Mommie cutting up her meat for her!

 

The Art of Slicing

Parakeet poop is tiny and dries within minutes for easy clean-up! It consists of a dark, outer rim of firm fecal material and a creamy, whitish center which is the urine portion. In a health parakeet, the droppings are always round. A healthy parakeet will poop every 15-20 minutes while awake ... that's about 3-4 times per hour!

Did you know that a Canadian Goose can poop up to 92 times per day? Rumor has it that a Canadian Goose can poop up to 10 times per hour totaling up to 1 pound per day! However, according to Dr. Bruce Manny, research fishery biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, the average Canada goose only excretes 5.49 ounces per day. No matter how you look at it -- and I really try not to -- that's a lot of poop! Especially when it's all over the side walk ... or playground ... or golf course ... or beach! YUCK.

What can you say about Pigeon Poop? It's everywhere! Did you know that an average pigeon excretes 25 pounds of droppings per year? Pigeon poop clean-up creates significant problems for cities. There is a health risk to cleaning humans as well as repair of damages caused. Pigeons reproduce all year around, so populations grow rapidly further increasing the problems!

 When it comes to the Red-tailed Hawk, you just can't call it "poop"  because the RT makes excreting waste an art form! There is no "dropping" of a solid waste mass like the Canadian Goose, the pigeon, the parakeet or any other bird. Why? Because the RT is a strict carnivore (meat eater) and therefore, has a unique digestive system which allows the hawk to digest its food which, depending on size, she can usually swallow whole.
The protein waste generated by the RT's diet is excreted as uric acid, which makes the slicing appear white.
The RT then forcefully expels the uric acid proteins, called "slicing" from her body. This action is known as "slice" and is a remarkable fete to observe!

 The RT eyass begins the illustrious art of "slice" at approximately two weeks of age ... as soon as she is strong enough to stand on her own feet and back her little tush up to the edge of the nest in order to propel the slicing out of the nest. This is a genetic instinct that keeps them from filling the bowl of the nest with accumulated slicing. This is particularly important when a full clutch (approx 3 eggs) all successfully hatch.
RTs slice with a great deal of velocity, as evidenced by looking at the walls and windows surrounding the nest area ... and can be attested to by the unsuspecting human who just happens to walk beneath the nest just as the eyass or haggard slices! What a wonderful blessing to have a slicing bestowed on one's head!

Pip's slicing should be made into a wall panel and sold at auction to raise money to continue the nest cams and provide new learning opportunities at the NYU/NYT "Live From the Nest" web site. There is so much to be learned about the Urbanization of the Red-tailed Hawk. Pip and her parents, Bobby & Violet, gave us a unique in site to just how much possibility there is to create an entire graduate program with researching the RT behavior through the unique Night Cam provided by NYT. What a unique opportunity for children, college students and adults to learn in a 24 hour observation environment. 

Each year, a new panel could be placed on the wall outside of Dr. Sexton's 12th floor window to collect that particular years "slicing" which, in turn, could be auctioned off to pay for the following years cameras and personnel ... as well as fund educational publications and school projects for interested people around the world!