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Saturday, August 20, 2016

Our hawks

As I walked out the front door a few days ago, something huge whooshed out of our flower bed and lit on a low tree branch. When I recovered my wits and got out my cell phone, I was able to snap this photo.




I'm no ornithologist...not even a casual birdwatcher, in fact...but my best guess is that it was a red-tailed hawk, though I have no idea whether it was male or female.

I read that some hawks are monogamous and may defend the same nesting territory for years. They mate in the late winter/early spring, and the eggs hatch in about six weeks.

Later in the day, I spotted two small hawks perched on our back fence, which is probably safe to say were maturing babies, as their size seemed to fit the mating/hatching timeline. 

While this may seem at first to have nothing to do with owning a mid-century home, it actually does. We have 21 live oak trees in our back yard, which were probably planted around the time the house was built in 1950, so they are extremely large and very tall...just where hawks like to build their nests. Living in a house with a yard that was established over 60 years ago has all sorts of benefits, including the opportunity to see wildlife you might not see in a newer neighborhood.

9 comments:

  1. How great! Whew, know that huge hawk flying off must have scared you. Lovely to have huge old trees on your property. Enjoy your wildlife. :)

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    1. Yes, it was only 8 or 10 feet away from me when it flew off. Completely unnerved me at first. When I figured out what it was, I was fascinated.

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  2. We have a few as well. Ours are broad-tailed hawks. There is a website called whatbird.com that you can enter identification info and figure out what you've got.

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    1. Broad winged hawks, not broad tailed.

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    2. I'll have to check out that site. I'd love to know more about the critters around here.

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  3. Nice hawk. We have a few in our yard too. They can get quite territorial in the spring time. Some even get a bit dangerous when they swoop at you.

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    1. Our neighbors have two tiny chihuahuas who cry and howl pitifully to get back inside when they're put out into the yard. They probably don't feel safe. Surely the neighbors know about the hawks, since they've lived here a lot longer than we have, but it's not a good idea to leave the dogs out there unattended, since I've read that large raptors do attack small pets. Maybe I should mention my concerns to the neighbors.

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  4. We have hawks, too...they pretty much mind their own business and haven't caused any concern in regard to our dogs. They sit up high and annoy them but that's about it. They are beautiful to watch. I used to worry about little Tipsy that lived next door- she was a chihuahua. We had one land out by the pool and stay there for a few hours and I could really appreciate it's size and beauty, and also those talons. WoW!

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    1. They're so beautiful. I had never seen one up close until the other day, and I was truly in awe.

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