Nesting begins - Red-shouldered Hawks!

Thursday, Feb 28th:

10:15 AM, Temperature: -3.5 C (~27 F)

The Red-Shouldered Hawks (Buteo lineatus) were active around Olin hall near the pond. It was a bright sunny day, I heard the birds calling intermittently for about 10 minutes and saw each of the two adults glide past my window. A little later I saw the male bird perched high up on the tulip for a few minutes. He then took off in a westward smooth glide and I watched it brake slightly as it approached the beech near the road. Its then that I noticed the female bird perched in the beech tree facing south. In the next moment the male in flight had mounted the female and the two coupled for about 10 seconds, after which the male perched to the left of the female almost in a close snuggle. I got out my video camera and shot the birds for a few minutes, the female on the left and male on the right of the frame. After a few minutes, the male took off again while the female stayed for another 45 minutes enjoying the sunshine.

I’ve observed the hawk pair nest around Olin hall for the previous 2 years, during which they’ve raised 7 young in two nest sites within 100 m of each other. The young birds have been seen in the area since then, but I have no clue as to how many of them have survived to adulthood. Last year’s nest is in great shape and I suspect that the pair will re-use it this time.

Sunday, Mar 2nd:

11:00 AM, Temperature: 3 C (39 F)

Was approaching Olin hall when I noticed first one and then the other of the hawks on two separate trees – one near the walkway and the other near Hodson hall. This was particularly interesting as I had been observing a nest high up on the beech right next to the walkway that looked fresh and remarkably similar to the previous nests I’d seen built by the hawks. I had also noticed this nest grow in size over the past two weeks and suspected that it was a new hawk nest. But, until now I had no visual proof that this was the case. And now I had an opportunity to observe what the birds were up to at this nest site.

I quickly got my camera and walked around the area under the birds. One of the birds (near Hodson) had left and was not within sight. The other bird now flew over to the trees north of the walkway and started inspecting the branches. It then chose a thin branch and pounced on it as if it were its prey and using a combination of its talons, beak, and acrobatic maneuvers pulled it out and flew right to the nest in the beech! It lay there for a minute making adjustments to its new home and then flew out to look for more building material. Soon it had found another twig and was back at the nest. I estimated each trip to take about 10 minutes. I observed the hawk for about 40 minutes and took a few shots. This was a really exciting find – the location of the nest is perfect for observation. In about a little over a month there will be a new hawk family!