Red Tailed hawks present an awesome surprise

Pair of Red Tailed Hawks

Sometimes I think the universe sets out to play little innocent pranks on me to teach me lessons.  In fact, I ended up laughing at myself on my way home from bird watch.   I was thinking, when I began walking back, that I was delighted on the one hand, but disappointed on the other, because I hadn't seen a new species of hawk.

Then I recalled that I told my brother when I left, that my goal for the day was to try to catch sight of some different hawks.  Well the joke is rooted in the fact that I did see different hawks, but only in so far as individuals of the same species are concerned.  I had no grounds for disappointment, the hawks I did see, presented me with an awesome surprise after all.  Here is how it came about.

Screaming Red Tail

Back in June I introduced you to a pair of Red Tailed hawks in one of my posts.  This pair has been nesting in the same area for several years now and as stated in that post, I had some doubts about their reproductive ability due to heavy pesticide and herbicide use in the area.  This year there has been very little, and perhaps even no spraying due to the heavy rainfall we have been experiencing throughout June and July.  In any case I went back to the general area of the nest site, because there are often other species of hawks hunting in the vicinity, which includes several blocks in all directions.

Wing over

Although I hadn't intended to go to the nest site itself, when I arrived, I was both surprised and puzzled to find the Red Tailed hawks still in residence.  Even more surprising was the fact that the adults were still clearly protecting the site, by flying over me, performing mock stoops and screaming.  There had to be a reason and so I started looking around a little more closely.  The nearer I got to the nest itself, the more agitated the adults became and then I heard the unmistakable sound of a hungry or distressed juvenile hawk, over the screams of the adults.

Juvenile Red Tailed Hawk

Although I have never approached the actual nest, and wouldn't attempt to do so knowing that the hawks might abandon it, I was definitely closer to it than I have been as I followed the juveniles voice.  Finally, to my great delight, I spotted a juvenile through a thick screen of trees and managed somehow to get several photos before I retreated.  I circled around and away, to get some distance between myself and the juvenile.  I had no wish to cause these hawks any more distress.  However I also wanted to get some photos of another bird species that I kept hearing.

Second Juvenile Red Tail

Adult Red Tail Coming out of a stoop

Again I was surprised.  Instead of calming down and settling on a tree top to keep and eye on me like they usually do, the adult hawks kept up their aggressive/defensive behavior.  It was then that I spotted another large hawk some several hundred yards from the nest, perched at the very top of a tree.  Thinking it was another species of hawk altogether which was causing the Red Tailed hawks' continued agitation, I headed that way.

The adults kept circling back and forth between the juvenile that I had spotted and the second hawk in the distance, while continuing their flyover of me.  Again I was puzzled, until I realized that the hawk in the distance was yet another juvenile.  This one was the larger of the two juveniles and so clearly a female.  Going with the assumption that these juveniles have only recently become fully fledged, I left the area, since it became very obvious that my presence caused these beautiful raptors too much distress.

Even though in doing so I missed the opportunity to get some photos of those other birds, all in all it was an extremely lucky bird watch for me.  My lesson for the day? Gratitude! 

Enjoy,
Guni




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