In 2003, Prospect Park's newest resident Red-tailed Hawks, "Big Mama" and her mate, "Split-tail", moved to a new nest. They went from the busy location above the 3rd Street crosswalk to the relatively secluded North Zoo Woods. Unfortunately, their offspring that year had serious problems.
They hatched three young, but as their fledge date approached, I realized something was wrong with at least two of the eyasses. They had developed a condition called "frounce". If left untreated, they birds would die. The next morning morning I received a call that two of the three young hawks were found wandering on the sidewalk at the adjacent Flatbush Avenue. They were taken to a rehabilitator, but one bird eventually died. The second recovered, but was unreleasable as he was unable to hunt on his own. The Prospect Park Zoo created a small aviary where this hawk has lived since 2003. The third eyass was healthy, became independent and moved out of the park.
I thought that would be the end of the story, but the following email was forwarded to me by my friend Peter. It is the best ending to the story I could ever hope for:
From: Debbie Dieneman Keim
Date: January 21, 2009
Subject: PPZ Red tail hawk
I wanted to let you know that the red tail hawk (Manipi) that was born in Prospect and ended up at the zoo is now on his own in the wild in Florida. Our exhibit here at the zoo needed changing, so the hawk was sent to a rehab center in Fla. Shortly after he arrived they noticed that he was able to hunt and catch his own food. They monitored him and eventually decided to release him into the wild a few weeks ago. [...]
Debbie Dieneman Keim
Coordinator of Volunteers
ProspectPark Zoo
That is fabulous.
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