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| Two Juvenile Red-Shouldered Hawks in Nest |
Last week, I was thinking about wild animal moms and which
animal I wanted to focus on for Mother’s Day.
I decided to write about our local red-shouldered hawks (Buteo lineatus); because they decided to
build a nest in our neighbor’s front yard a couple of months ago, with easy
viewing from my daughter’s bedroom window.
I knew there was at least one baby in the nest since I had seen the
parents feeding it. So last Saturday
morning, I spent some time outside with my camera and binoculars trying to get
a glimpse of it. That was not easy since
the nest is probably 50 plus feet up a pine tree. Be that as it may, I did see
them, and there were two juveniles! Sadly,
later that same day, I learned from my neighbor that one of the babies had
fallen out of the nest. As a mom, I was devastated! How could a baby survive that fall? And how would I explain it to my
daughter? Clearly, this was not a great
subject for a Mother’s Day conversation.
Seeing two baby birds that morning was exhilarating for
me. My husband and I have lived in our
house since long before our daughter was born, and we feel like we know at
least one of these birds pretty well. If
you have a red-shouldered hawk where you live, you know it. They are very vocal birds of prey repeating a
loud “Kee-aah” scream that can be heard more than a mile away. Our pair usually nested in our back woods where
we would hear them on a regular basis. Over
the years, the parents often hunted for snakes and lizards in our yard. They even regularly watched my husband as he
mowed grass hoping an easy meal would be scared out into the open. The hawks usually had one baby each summer
that fledged the nest. Of course the
parents continued caring for their young until it reached about 18 weeks old and
could take care of itself. During that
time, the parents would often bring their fledgling to our yard during the day
while they hunted. My husband and I have
called our yard their nursery on many occasions. I suppose it was a safe place for the
youngster to practice hunting lizards.
Unfortunately, one of the pair died in our yard one spring, several
years ago. My husband and I were away
when it happened, but I can only imagine the bird broke its neck during the
hawk’s elaborate mating ritual of flying high into the air and then taking a
sharp dive towards the ground. It is
well documented that power lines often kill birds of prey with similar mating
rituals. Although we don’t have any
power lines in our back yard, we do live in the woods with many tree limbs as obstacles. Being monogamous animals, it took the
surviving bird a couple of years before it found another mate. My husband and I were so happy when we
started hearing a second red-shouldered hawk echoing the calls of our local bird.
They’ve had a few babies over the years, but it was
thrilling this year to be able to watch these doting parents pick just the
right nesting materials and nurture their young these past couple of months. They are such good parents. Unfortunately, males and females look very
similar, so we can’t tell which one is at the nest at any given time. But they seem to take turns with all their
child care duties, and even more so now.
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| Juvenile Hawk Found on Ground |
I’m happy to report the baby bird that fell out of the tree
survived the fall. On Saturday afternoon,
the neighbor found the bird hiding next to her house, a little shaken and
crouched down on the ground. When it
stood, it was a little wobbly. It had
made it to the ground about 70 or 80 feet from its tree. Luckily, it had most of its feathers, which
must have helped it glide to the ground for a survivable landing. My first worries were that it may have broken
a wing or leg. I did see it stretch its
wings that first evening and noticed its flight feathers were not fully grown
yet, but its wings seemed to be okay. We
just needed to wait and see if its parents would still take care of it and if
it would survive the night.
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| Juvenile Hawk Checking Out the Yard |
The juvenile made it through the first night and the parents
were taking care of it! Monday morning I
saw the young bird ripping something apart to eat it. That evening, my neighbor saw one parent
bring a snake, and the parent stayed and watched while baby ate it. The next evening, snake was for dinner again. When the juvenile was hungry, usually in the
morning or evening, it called almost nonstop until a parent arrived with
food. It explored a little around the
yard and even flew up to perch on the chain link fence near its new home site a
couple of times, proving its wings were working a little. Unfortunately however, the baby was still in danger
from predation as long as it was on the ground.
With a coyote spotted in the area recently, we were worried about our
newest feathered neighbor.
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| Juvenile Hawk Perched on Fence |
Even though I can’t tell which parent is the mother, I know
one of them is. Just like human moms,
she is dedicated to her children. As
long as her babies are alive, she will take care of them. Even though my neighbor and I were watching
over this baby, ready to step in and call the Florida Wildlife Commission (FWC)
if necessary, the mom would not give up on her baby. She stayed strong and brave even though her
baby landed next to a human house inside a fenced yard. Without her, the baby wouldn’t have survived!
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| Fledgling Returns to Tree while Parent Feeds Nestling |
On Wednesday morning, the baby bird was gone! I heard red-shouldered hawk calls coming from
the nest. I looked up and found a parent
feeding the sibling in the nest and the other juvenile perched about a foot from
the nest looking down at me! It was our
baby bird! He made it back to the nest! I can only imagine the relief (anthropomorphizing
here because it’s a huge relief to me) for its mother to know her baby was home
and safe again. There’s nothing like a
mother’s love. It’s a strong instinct
that bonds and protects children for the rest of their lives.
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| Red-Shouldered Hawk Craft |
To celebrate the exciting return to the nest, my daughter and
I made a hawk out of construction paper and the cardboard from a roll of toilet
paper (you can also use paper towel roll cut to the size of a toilet paper
roll). I traced my daughter’s hand on
two pieces of brown construction paper and cut them out to make the wings. Next I cut out a tail and head from the brown
construction paper and talons/legs and a beak from yellow construction paper. My daughter used a red marker to add a little coloring
to the shoulder of each wing. I helped her
tape (you can use glue if you’re not in a hurry) each body part to the paper
roll in the correct place. Then I cut a
straight line down the middle of the paper roll (the belly of the bird),
running between the legs. This allowed
my daughter to wear the bird on her arm while she played and “flew” with it
around the yard. It’s easy and makes a
fun toy. Just remember, it doesn’t have
to be perfect because it’s a craft for children to play with and enjoy. Plus, you can always make another one later!
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| Flying Hawk Craft |
Happy Mother’s Day!
* I know both hawk parents helped to insure their juvenile’s
survival; and likewise, many moms rely on dads to help care for and protect
their children. Dads are great too. But this is Mother’s Day, and today we are
celebrating Moms!
