On February 27, I blogged about the pair of red shouldered hawks that were mating and building a nest in a tree in front of my house. Since that time, I've watched the hawks come and go, apparently feeding each other as they incubated the eggs. According to what I've read, this breed of hawks incubates eggs for 28 days. Today, for the first time, I heard baby hawks crying, at least 3 of them, maybe 4 or more. They seemed to know when the parent approached with food because they would start vocalizing when the parent was flying in from about 50-75 feet away. I read that they are generally helpless for the first two weeks, but have flight feathers and are learning to fly within 5-6 weeks. By eight weeks, they are hunting on their own.
It is interesting to note that of all the trees in the area, the one with the hawks leafed out first. In addition, I can hardly see the nest now due to the leaves. The leaf cover is very thick. I suppose this protects the young from overhead predation. I wonder how the hawks knew that that tree would leaf first and have very thick foliage?
Today is the first day that I have heard the chicks, but then, it has been raining for a few days and I haven't spent much time outside. I think I would have heard them before today if they were more than 48 hours old. They were as loud as the parent's keeyah call which I can hear in the house.
It is hard to measure the enjoyment I've gotten from watching these hawks over the last 6 weeks. In yet another 6 weeks, the ritual will be over and hopefully the young hawks will make a dent in our snake and rodent population.
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