It all started while on the Main Wetlands Overlook. I was talking about the previous week’s weather, birds, and other creatures with photographer Kevin Odom. There were currently alto cumulus and cirrus clouds above and I wondered if a front was moving in on us. Suddenly, in came a great blue heron. The bird landed on a boulder out in the Wetlands, looked around a bit and began to preen, a good opportunity to get some nice photos. Then, KevinRead more
Posts tagged: #Red-tailed Hawk
Bald Eagles
Three Bald Eagles passed over our air space today (5/7/13). I was talking with Ranger Rock at the Bungee Jump about the chickadee and bluebird nests here at the Museum, when he looked up and saw one, then two, large birds soaring in the gray, overcast sky above. Both birds were Bald Eagles. And finally, almost fifteen minutes after the first two eagles passed, a third came into sight riding the beginnings of the same thermal as a Red-tailed Hawk. I’veRead more
The Eagle and the Hawk
The following URL was passed along to me by Jennifer here at the Museum. It’s a live Eagle Cam from Duke Farms in New Jersey. The live feed is of an eagle’s nest in a sycamore tree. More interesting is a previously recorded video that is linked to on the right side of the web page (click on “2013-03-24 Red-tailed hawk Fight“ in the right hand column when you get to the main page). That particular video shows a brief battleRead more
Red shoulders?
People who are not familiar with the species often look at me with confused eyes when I tell them that the hawk perched in the trees before them in the swamp here at the Museum is a Red-shouldered Hawk. Why would they name this hawk “red-shouldered,” and where are the red shoulders? A Red-tailed Hawk has a brick-red tail. That name makes sense. The Red-shouldered Hawk (RSHA) has a reddish belly and chest. Why not name the hawk Red-bellied, orRead more
The Red-shouldered Stoop
It’s not summer yet. Heck, it’s not even spring yet, but the local Red-shouldered Hawks are certainly thinking about the seasons in front of them. The fine weather of the previous week brought out the red-shoulders in numbers, and they were definitely in an amorous state of mind, soaring over the Wetlands, talons dangling below them. Their aerial displays and loud, constant vocalizations could hardly be missed by any earthbound humans below. There were a few Red-tailed Hawks about too.Read more
Great Backyard Bird Count
This past weekend I, along with Rangers Kristin and Sara, participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count. The count is a joint project organized by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Audubon Society, and Bird Studies Canada. The count spans four days but you only have to count one day if time is short, and only fifteen minutes of that day if you’re really pressed for time. The requirements for participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count are a willingness toRead more
What’s he looking at?
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No-fly Zone
A while back I mentioned that Red-tailed Hawks are not often seen over the Museum’s outdoor areas during the summer months. Its not quite summer yet, but trouble is already brewing for the big red-tails. Crows seem to delight in harassing any hawk or owl they come across, especially during the nesting season when the crows are raising their young. The crows are brazen, but they’re not dumb, and these two gave up their pursuit once the hawk left “their”Read more
Red tails, Red breasts, and a Nervous NOMO
As a follow-up to the Spring? posting of February 25th regarding the questions on the Red-tailed Hawks: A few hours after posting the above, I was out in Catch the Wind and observed a pair of Red-tailed Hawks performing their aerial courtship flight. I didn’t get the whole sequence of events on film (digital), and the birds were way up there requiring a bit of enlargement, but hopefully you’ll get the gist of what the birds are doing. The nextRead more