Nature Done Wright

This was sent out by e-mail today to folks who subscribe to the Fyke e-mail list.

Dear Friends of the Allendale Red-shouldered Hawks,

We at the Fyke Nature Association regret to inform you that the Laura and her mate have decided to nest in a new tree this season, which makes our recent effort to install a streaming video cam in vain.

The good news is that Laura appears to be incubating at least one egg — the 15th year in a row that these hawks have nested in Allendale or nearby Ramsey. The unfortunate news is that the nest is elsewhere  – still in Allendale, but elsewhere. Nature has a mind of its own.

We are now trying to sell the equipment, and should have a better idea of where we stand in a few weeks.  We will be offering appropriate refunds as soon as we can. And we still plan to do a free updated eBook on the hawks and will mention all donors by name.

Although our effort failed, we believe it was worthwhile. The opportunities to install a video cam and to observe nesting endangered Red-shouldered Hawks are few and far between anywhere, and this was likely going to our best chance. We had no way of knowing that the Red-shoulders had already chosen a new nesting site.

The previous nest site had been used successfully for four years, and we were fortunate to have a homeowner — David Reik — who embraced the idea of installing a video cam in the nesting tree in his yard.

We also were fortunate that Chris Fix Tree Service of Midland Park so graciously donated their time, bucket truck and expertise to install the camera and equipment.

We  cannot thank Conserve Wildlife Foundation enough — they donated their time to install the camera.

These are all terrific people.

As for everyone who donated to this effort, thank you so much. We tried our best.

Here’s to Laura and her family of wonderful hawks. May Allendale always be your home.