Saturday, July 23, 2011

Cooper's Hawk Nest was Successful!

Back in early April, I posted about a Cooper's Hawk building a nest on the greenbelt where I walk everyday. Well, turns out it was a very successful nest this year! After the nest was built there wasn't much activity so I thought it was abandoned. Then one day I walked by and saw mama hawk sitting on it so I knew there must be eggs!
I kept my eye on it and eventually I saw a little head poking up. This nest is very high but with my Sigma 50-500mm I got some decent shots!
I walked around to the other side of the nest and saw another head and even had the pleasure of seeing mama feed it!
I apparently overstayed my welcome under the nest because shortly after mama fed them she stood on the edge of the nest, looked right at me and proceeded to dive-bomb me. I kid you not, I thought she was going to hit me so I ducked. It made my heart race and I quickly made my exit. If I wasn't so busy fearing for my safety, it would've made some great photos :0)
I waited a few days before returning and to my surprise noticed there were more than two babies in the nest...
there were 4 ! In the above photo you will see 3 in the nest and one already making it's way onto a nearby branch!
On my next visit, 2 of them were on branches with 2 still in the nest.


I continue to see them near the nest on my walks...calling out to mom and dad and learning all their hunting tricks!

1 comment:

  1. Hello, Calico. I first met you at Eaglecrest or maybe the RRP forum a year or so ago, and we shared Cooper's hawk photos. Glad to see your beautiful photos still being posted on your blog. Come visit sometime at Raptor Central forum http://598075.xobor.com/ where I post my Cooper's Hawk blog and a group of us watch web cams together.

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