After snapping a few pictures of what I believe is the female of the pair, I spotted another RTH in the distance and decided to follow it. I searched in vein for 15 minutes before deciding to return to the female RTH. On my way back I managed to get a few pictures of a juvenile Cooper's Hawk stalking Woodpeckers in the woods.
After spending a few minutes with the Cooper's Hawk I return to find 2 RTH's perched in that same spot instead of one. Both are confirmed adults, both bearing brick red tails.
Male left, Female right
They turned their heads simultaneously, which caused me to turn mine as well
This juvenile must be one of theirs from 2010, otherwise he would have been chased from the area
I haven't yet found their nest, but I plan to add this pair to my list of Queens Raptors to watch for 2011!
4 comments:
Alright, your patient perseverance paid off! Thanks for the update.
Thanks Donna. Due to Bobby and Cathy releasing a number of Raptors there, that area has gotten a lot more interesting.
I coach at Joseph a Mafera park in Ridgewood and when I drove up there yesterday. There were 2 red tails sitting one of those tall transformer poles. Then they were just flying back and forth between there and a light pole about 50 yards away.It was weird because I have seen hawks soar around queens but these 2 birds just seem to be casually enjoying the day. I stopped practice after the 3rd time they flew over (mind you there were there prior to me getting there at 6pm) just to make sure that they were hawks and it was.They might have been juveniles cause their tails were brown still But they were hawks.I have done birding throughout queens before but this was the coolest thing ever.Have any idea if this is the same pair? They eventually flew away
Hi Peter - It was great meeting you on the QC campus yesterday. I learned so much from our chat and was thrilled to see "our" beautiful fledgling honing her skills while having so much fun chasing bugs and sticks. It's a new "film" in my head that is mitigating the sadness of watching her dying father being harassed by mockingbirds. I hope all three survive and thrive! Thanks for being there for our urban raptors, and hope to see you again.
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