According to Audubon folks who had been watching the birds regularly, the
birds were carrying fresh sticks to the nest and incorporating them just
before the nest was removed. There was a legal opinion posted on Birdchat
that this meant the nest was "active" (active nests cannot be removed,
active nests can, but USFWS nowadays apparently has a very narrow
interpretation of "active") and other posts on whether FWS is thus opening
up the door to removal of raptor nests if they do not contain eggs or chicks
at the moment, even though they are "traditional" -- that is, occupied every
year.

All of these can be caught up with on Birdchat archives.

Still wonder why the Redtails don't nest in a tree (of which there are many
very large ones) in Central Park.

Gail Mackiernan


on 12/15/2004 10:13 AM, J. Steven Huy at  wrote:

> The press sure is clueless!  Seems like the NYC bird nuts are about as
> uninformed as the press. Were these hawks actually nesting this time of year?
> 
> --
> J. Steven Huy
> Middletown, MD, USA
> 
> 
>