Wednesday marked 33 days since the female red-tailed hawk at Grant's Tomb, known to some watchers as "Mrs. Grant", was observed spending the night in her nest, indicating that she was either brooding her first egg or soon would be. Red-tail incubation time is roughly one month, so this week meant it was time to start keeping an eye on her behavior.
Nothing interesting was seen during a visit to Grant's Tomb on Monday, but Wednesday about 6:45 I caught what might have been the end of feeding activity. Mrs. G was bent over the nest and fussing about for about two minutes before she got back in.
So perhaps it was hopeful thinking, but that short bit of activity suggests that an egg has hatched in the Grant's Tomb nest. If similar behavior continues over the next few days, then we can be sure. If there is a baby hawk up there now, it will likely be another week or so before it is big enough to poke its head up high enough to be visible.
About 25 or 30 minutes later, Mrs. Grant was back up for a few minutes, but apparently just looking around as there was no fussing in the nest bowl.
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