Pale Male and Lola: Home for the Holidays

I checked Pale Male and Lola's nest today (815 - 845 am EST) and the installation of the stainless steel nest cradle is apparently complete. The "cradle" is comprised of large metal spikes that curve over the top of the cornice and stand up around the edges of the nest. Heavy metal screening lines this cradle and the original anti-pigeon spikes are located in the middle of the structure. This nest "cradle" provides approximately 2-8 inches clearance between the bottom of the nest and the top of the cornice so air can circulate freely. The top of the cornice is covered with a sheet of something (plastic? molded plexiglass?) that is probably intended to protect the masonry. Despite looking at the nest from several angles, I was unable to determine to my satisfaction whether any sticks were present.

Much to my annoyance, the scaffolding was still hanging from the edge of the roof above the cornice (and nest). It still had the banner hanging from it and the netting flapped in the icy winds. I was ready to complain loudly and repeatedly to the advertizing contractors to remove the scaffolding immediately for fear that it scares the birds away, but at that moment, Lola flew up to the nest structure and landed on it. She surveyed her kingdom below, appearing to be quite pleased with the nest cradle while ignoring the scaffolding and its flapping net. In fact, during the 30 minutes when I was there, Lola repeatedly flew in small circles over the structure and landed on it three times. She spent approximately half of her time sitting on the nest cradle. Pale Male was also present, soaring in small circles and approaching the cornice very closely, but he never landed on it while I was there.

I did call the advertizing contractors this afternoon to voice my concerns about the possibility of entanglement/entrapment of the birds in the netting that is dangling down from the scaffolding on the left side. The woman I spoke with said they would get someone out there today to secure it better. (This woman also said that the scaffolding would remain in place until the contractors were certain the structure had been installed correctly, that installation had taken longer than planned so they were unable to make their final inspection.)

Of course, I will check on the netting and I will make a loud noise, in concert with all of you, if it isn't secured adequately.