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?

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!  

The Hawk Report for 1/31

Trying to Stay Warm

Until recently, it hasn't felt much like winter here in the Capital Region of New York.  We finally got our first major storm of the season last week.  All was quiet after the storm with the Red-shouldered Hawk pair in our backyard for about a week.  Then the activity picked up over the last few days.  Especially, the female has been spending a lot of time in our backyard.  The above picture is of her perched high up in a tree in the sun.  She is puffed up to help keep warm and it makes her look much larger.

Here is her from Monday morning.  She is doing some preening on the feathers on her back.  It's still awhile before they will start the nesting season but typically they start showing up more and more in February and March.  Maybe to reassert their territory or it might just be that they like to perch in the sun in the tall trees to stay warm.  Whatever it is, it is great to see these beautiful hawks more and more over the next few months.  

The Happy Couple again

I apologize for the lack of posts lately.  I have been spending a lot of my free time which, is not much with two young kids, working on the upcoming Bald Eagle Watch program. As busy as I have been, the Red-Shouldered Hawk pair in my backyard has been busier.  I have seen one of them practically every day for a few weeks now.  Today, they both showed up to perch together for a little while before the male headed out to probably catch some breakfast.  He is on the top with the more reddish head and smaller size.

 
Here is an older picture of the two trying to stay warm on a cold winter day.

Here is a more recent one from a week ago.  It never gets old watching and photographing this beautiful pair.  Happy Birding and Happy Holidays!

Feathers on Friday for 11/4

A Hawk and His Shadow

Happy first Friday of November!  This week, I went a little artsy.  This is the male Red-shouldered Hawk in my yard perched in the sun.  It didn't last for long but his shadow was cast on the tree behind him.  His coloring goes perfect with the foliage right now.  Don't you think? Have a great weekend and enjoy the fall weather!  Happy Birding!

More Feathers on Friday Post:

Prairie Birder

Bird Boy

Birds in Your Backyard

Wolf Song Blog

Another Day in Paradise

A Day in the Life

The Squirrels and Hawks Part 3

Well, the Grey Squirrels are at it again. It's like a moth to a flame.  It is just baffling to me why they harass the Red-Shouldered Hawks so much.  Is it just pure curiosity? Or some sort of smell?  Or some sort defense mechanism like mobbing that birds use?  Whatever it is, it has made for some interesting photos.  

The death stare didn't work.

Finally, after being repeatedly harassed, the female Red-Shouldered Hawk flew off to another tree to get some peace.

 If you missed the first two parts, click here for part one and click here for part 2.   Happy Birding!

A Little Known Mimic

The Blue Jay

Birds are famously known as mimics but most think of Macaws, Parrots, and Mockingbirds.  Another one might be in your backyard and you didn't even know it.  The Blue Jay is part of crow family and like it's big cousin, it also is a pretty good mimic.  The Blue Jays in my yard have tricked me a number of times and their favorite mimic call is...

The Red-shouldered Hawks are their favorite mimic call in my yard.  They have caught me a number of times looking for a hawk when I see a flash of blue in the direction of the call.  It makes a lot of sense for the Blue Jays to mimic very loud, territorial hawks that sounds the alarm if any other predators(including me) are in their territory.  Red-shouldered Hawks don't typically go after Blue Jays but other predators like Cooper's Hawk do.  So, It is probably a little trick to stay alive.  

Be Careful of What is Lurking...

Junior Practicing Hunting

The immature Red-shouldered Hawk has been busy practicing hunting in my yard since his first visit.
I have seen two unsuccessful attempts at getting, what I think was, a Chipmunk from under this feeder.  The birds and squirrels in my yard like usual are very unconcerned with his presences.  I guess you never know since Red-shouldered Hawks do take birds but so far junior has stuck to trying to master the art of hunting rodents.

Here is a shot of him from his first visit.  I have seen very little of the adult pair.  Maybe they allow their offspring to figure it out on his own?  Typically, the parents keep feeding the newly fledged hawks for a time but I'm not sure if they are still doing this or not.

Happy Birding and enjoying the new additions to the bird world!

The Newest Member Of The Family

The immature Red-Shouldered Hawk finally visited my yard.  I have seen it flying with it's parents several times but it hadn't perched in my yard till today.  I believe it's a male and fledged about three weeks ago.  He was holding up one of his legs in this shot.

 
He was rudely greeted by the songbirds in my yard.  A group of American Goldfinches, House Finches, Blue Jays, Tufted Titmice, White-breasted Nuthatches took turns mobbing the youngster.  Then the Grey Squirrels joined in.  He had to switch perches a few times to avoid the group.  In the above picture, he was trying to get a better view on one of the birds harassing him.

It looks small so I think it's male though it's hard to say for sure unless I see it with one of the adults.

Here is an older shot of the proud parents.  Happy Birding and enjoy the new fledglings in your area!

Feathers on Friday for 5/27

Red-Winged Blackbird

It's been a long week and half since my hard drive died on my laptop.  I'm finally up again though I did lose some pictures.  I guess the lesson is to backup your computer more often.  

I was visited by this male Red-winged Blackbird at one of the Bald Eagle nests last weekend.  He was really showing off his red wing probably to attract a mate.  In the first shot, he is calling and puffing out his feathers for all to see.  

Update: If you have read the blog for a awhile, you know I have a nesting pair of Red-shouldered Hawks in the woods behind my house.  It looks like one eyas has fledged.  I witnessed a noisy soaring lesson between one adult and one juvenile over my house this week.  I'm hoping I can get a shot of the juvenile soon.  Happy Memorial Day weekend and Happy birding!

More Feathers on Friday Post:

Prairie Birder

Bird Boy

Birds in Your Backyard

Wolf Song Blog

Another Day in Paradise

A Day in the Life

 

Look Who is Back!

Cooper's Hawk Hunting

I haven't seen much of the Red-Shouldered Hawk pair in the past few weeks.  I do hear them quite a bit back in the woods.  This is probably a call for food for the little one(s) in the nest.  While they have been busy with raising their young, the Cooper's Hawk has taken advantage and started hunting in my backyard.  

This one actually stayed long enough for me to get a shot of it.  I believe it is a female from it's rather large size.  She tried unsucessfully to catch either a chipmunk or small bird before this shot.  Then she perched above fallen tree where the lucky almost prey was able to hide from her till she flew off.  

The male Red-Shouldered Hawk hunting in my yard back in late March.

I noticed more evidence of the Cooper's Hawk hunting in my yard when I noticed a pile of Morning Dove feathers near one of the my feeders.  The Red-Shouldered Hawks haven't taken a dove that I have seen so I think it was the Cooper's Hawk work.


I guess it is the way of nature of the birds of prey.  When the Red-Shouldered Hawks aren't defending their territory, other predators like the Cooper's Hawk will encroach.   

Read More about the Two Different Hawks Here:

The Tale of the Squirrels and the Hawks

The Tale of the Squirrels and Hawks Part 2

Birds of Prey

Birds of Prey Part 2

The Happy Pair

The Tale of the Squirrels and Hawks part 2

The Squirrels are at it again!

The squirrels continue to mess with the Red-shouldered Hawk pair who have been spending a lot of time in my backyard this last week.  The breeding season has started and they have been copulating a lot in the last two days.  The female should soon be laying her eggs in the nest.  It got me to thinking if this curiosity of the squirrels was due to some pheromones being released by the breeding hawks? I guess it's possible.  It just seems that the squirrels are drawn to the hawks like two magnets.

Right before this shot, these two were beak to nose.   This is the squirrel heading back down the branch after the encounter.  Maybe, it is something about the scent of the breeding hawks that is drawing the squirrels?  We'll probably never know the reason but it sure has been entertaining to watch.   Read part one of the tale here.  Stay tune for the answers to the latest "Which is Which- Cooper's or Sharp-shinned hawk?" post.  You can look at it here.

Happy Birding and the start of the breeding season!

The Tale of the Squirrels and the Hawks

 It started out as typical morning with one of the pair of the Red-Shouldered Hawk perched in a big tree in our backyard(note the squirrel in the tree behind the hawk in another tree).  The birds and Grey Squirrels paid the hawk no mind at first.  Then one of the squirrels seemed to notice the hawk up in the tree and then...

 He climbed up the tree and bravely headed up the same branch as the hawk was on.  I held my breath wondering what was going to happen next.

He curiously tried to figure out what this hawk was doing in the tree while the hawk stared back.

The squirrel almost turned back but decided to keep going.

 The squirrel got as close to the hawk as he is in this photograph and then seemed to reconsider what he was doing.  After this, the hawk flew off to a quieter spot so it could hunt.  At that point, I thought the story was over but then the second member of the Red-shouldered Hawk pair flew into the backyard.

I'm not sure if it was the same squirrel or another one but whoever it was again seemed to notice the hawk in the tree.

 Again,  The squirrel getting very close to figure out what this hawk was doing.

 The squirrel considering jumping to get a closer look.  The hawk just stared at him probably trying to figure out what the squirrel was trying to do.

 The hawk twisting it's head to get a better look at the squirrel.  After that the squirrel lost interest in the hawk and went back down the tree to feed.  It was an amazing thing to watch.  Why would a squirrel or squirrels show so much interest in a bird that is known to prey on them? Is it curiosity? Stupidity? Something instinctive?  I don't think we will ever know what was going through the minds of these two animals but it was interesting to watch.  What strange behaviors have you seen between prey and predator? Share your experience in the comments or on the Facebook page.

Birds of Prey Part 2

Two Different Ways to Hunt

Red Shouldered Hawk pair in my backyard last winter.

Cooper's Hawk in my backyard this summer.

If you have read the blog for awhile, you know I have two species of hawks that like to hunt in my backyard.  They have two very different but lethal hunting styles.  This morning one of them was successful.

Red Shouldered Hawk's Approach

Red Shouldered Hawk hunting in my backyard last week.

The Red Shouldered Hawk's hunting style is perching in plain view, looking around(like the one above), then striking. It uses it's powerful wings to thrust into flight and catch it's prey mostly on the ground.  The Red Shouldered Hawk is a very loud hawk but I can tell when it is hunting because it is visible but quiet.  The other thing, I have noticed is most of the squirrels and birds carry on feeding around my yard.  They don't seem to be too worried about the talons and sharp beak that is observing them from a nearby tree.  

The red shoulder where it gets it's name.

Cooper's Hawk's Approach

The Cooper's Hawk takes a more stealthier approach to hunting.  It usually catches it's prey by surprise or chases them through the trees.  It uses it's long tail like a rudder and it's shorter wings to maneuver through the trees after birds.  The above pictures (taken this morning) shows how lethal the Cooper's Hawk can be.  This was a Morning Dove that wasn't very lucky.  The below picture is what was left behind after it quickly took it's catch somewhere safer to eat.  The Cooper's Hawk is known to prey on birds around feeders and this is what probably happened in this case.  The squirrels and birds were quiet and nowhere to be found after this strike for about 30 minutes.  

What types of Birds of Prey do you have in your area?  Tell us about them in the comments or on Facebook.  Don't forget to follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook.  Happy Holidays and Happy Birding!