Of the red-tailed hawk nests that I check on, two seemed like good candidates to spot a nestling on Saturday. I opted for the nest at J. Hood Wright Park because it gets better light late in the day even when it's cloudy.
I apparently arrived not too long after a late afternoon feeding. The mother hawk was perched on the railing just above the nest, looking like she had just returned from a post-feeding flight.
She soon hopped down into the nest, and not much happened for a half hour or more.
Just before 7:00, the father paid a quick visit to the nest. Then popped across the street and perched in a tree for 5 minutes.
Perhaps dad's visit woke the kids up. The mother stood at the edge of the nest, eying the inside.
But no little one appears just yet. No, it took some sprinkling rain to get them up. Finally a baby hawk head is definitely visible.
And a minute later another.
And it's beginning to look like the rain might get worse. The mother settled down in the nest.
Just before sunset, sunlight shot under the cloud layer, lighting the nest site up.
No comments:
Post a Comment