Thursday, March 23, 2017

Hawk Report for 3/23

Still No Eggs yet...



Yesterday, The Red-shouldered Hawk pair was perched together. This morning, The pair was perched again together for a short time.  The nesting season for them still hasn't started.  It should be soon though.  I believe that they got started last season in late-March or early-April.  Once the female lays eggs, she will be incubating for about 30 days.  A little bit shorter than their larger cousin the Bald Eagle.  While a lot of Bald Eagle pairs share the incubating duties, Red-shouldered Hawk females do about 95% or more of the incubating.  The male will be busy getting food for both them.  She likes to "scream" at him from the nest and I have heard this a number of times overt the nesting season.  

I have always been a little hesitant to name nesting raptors.  I know it's pretty common on the nest cams but I just haven't ever done it for any of the Bald Eagle pairs that I have watched.  Should I name the Red-shouldered Hawk pair? What do you think?






Thursday, March 16, 2017

Hawk Report for 3/16

It's Almost Nesting Season


I have been seeing a lot of the Red-Shouldered Hawk pair of late.  Especially, the female has been perched in a tree in the sun almost every morning. Right after this shot,  I saw them copulating so it shouldn't be too much longer before they have eggs.  When that happens, the female is rarely off the nest and I usually hear her calling for her mate from deep in the woods where the nest is located. 


After the 2 feet of snow in the recent storm, the pair was perched together.


Luckily, They haven't started their nesting season but it might be tricky to locate prey in all this snow. The Bald Eagles aren't as lucky.  All the pairs are incubating eggs and it had to a difficult few days for them.  I'm hoping they all made it through and will have eaglets soon.  Stay tuned  for an eagle report soon.

Happy Birding!