Hawks and Chrysogonum virginianum
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
A early morning walk found us (a good friend and me) admiring Green and Gold (Chrysogonum virginianum) and the emerging green of the oak-hickory forest in the 'back' of the Garden.
Showing posts with label red-shouldered hawks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label red-shouldered hawks. Show all posts
Red-shouldered hawks in the Garden
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
A pair of red-shouldered hawks, their nest completed, were carrying on loudly in the botanical garden where I work this morning, chasing away a third hawk, and calling loudly. Here's a link to the post on the What's Happening in the Garden blog.
Read more...A watching hawk
Monday, October 20, 2008
I've seen a hawk perched up high in a declining oak in the early morning for some time. The tree is below our big parking lot (at work), but gives him/her a great view of the meadows in the morning. It's one of our red-shouldered hawks - we have two pairs, I think, at the Garden where I work.
Today I had my camera, so was able to 'see' a bit closer.
A mockingbird was singing nearby.
And persimmons were ripe and ready to eat.
Bee flies and syrphid flies
Monday, April 21, 2008
I was fortunate enough to be on a birding excursion this afternoon in a class that I've been taking. We saw all sorts of interesting things, thanks to our instructor, a great birder, but also an experienced entomologist.
We saw birds, of course, and we're in the midst of peak spring migration, but I think my favorite new thing was learning about bee flies. They look like small, very cute bees, but are actually bee mimics. This one was visiting small pale tangerine-colored flowers out in the meadow (a weedy plant that I should know the name of, but which is really quite lovely). They're pollinators, just like bumblebees, honeybees, and other bees, but as flies, mimic bees to avoid predators. Here's a great array of bee fly images from giffbeaton.com.
Similarly, watching a syrphid fly that mimics yellow jackets was fascinating. These flies are also flower visitors, and are sometimes called flower flies. Here are some good images from a NC Extension Sustainable Agriculture site.
I was able to get a good look at a number of birds that were less familiar to me. A Eastern Kingbird and a number of blue-gray gnatcatchers were highlights, as well as a tufted titmouse carrying a HUGE wad of moss in her beak for nest building. We also saw the nesting female red-shouldered hawk apparently feeding bits of an anole or lizard that her mate had just brought to her. She's probably staying at the nest with her nestlings while they grow feathers -- they're altricial (born with little or no down), so need plenty of help to stay warm, and need to be fed. Hopefully, they'll be independent enough in the next few days (it takes about a week) that both parents will be feeding them, so we'll have lots more activity. We were able to see the male come in, deposit the critter, and quickly depart, and then the backside of the female as she fed her young.
Observing hawks
Sunday, March 9, 2008
We first spotted the nest two weeks ago, and the red-shouldered hawk pair finished it about a week later. Now, the female is sitting on the nest, keeping a careful eye on passersby, and calling with her distinctive kerr-kerr sound. 
On the days I've been by, I've usually been able to catch a glimpse of her -- unfortunately, the nest is quite high up! I took a few pictures this morning with a long lens, but managed only to get a somewhat blurry shot in my minimal efforts.
In poking around the web looking for information about their nesting and foraging behavior, I came across a great digiscope sequence of a nesting red-shouldered mom and offspring in California.
A late winter walk
Sunday, February 24, 2008
The calendar is late February, but there are many signs of spring on a morning walk at the Garden. All the winter and early flowering Asian species are in full swing; camellias, Japanese apricots, and magnolias, joined by the Mediterranean daffodils and rosemary. But some of our natives are also early; the tiny flowers of winged elm pose a nice contrast to the corky stems, and the male cones of red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) released great puffs of pollen when touched.
Walking in the woodland wildflower area, part of the Garden's forest & woodland areas, we spotted first a single red-shouldered hawk in flight, stopping briefly so 
I noticed s/he was carrying a stick. The females are bigger than the males, but otherwise they look similar. Flying on to a large twiggy nest high in a tulip poplar tree, a second hawk joined the first, and then they stood on a nearby branch together. It's not too far from where a pair nested 2 years ago, and were quite easy to observe feeding their nestlings for a month or so before fledging. Here's a great photo taken at that time by one of our visitors, Louis Bregger. Hopefully the pair we saw this morning will continue at this nest location -- it takes awhile to build a nest, and both parents incubate the eggs; this one is in a good place to watch and keep an eye on, but high enough that I don't think visitors will be bothersome. I've got groups of kids this week coming for programs about 'Discovering Wildlife Habitats' that it will be fun to have them observe a new nest in progress, albeit from a distance!
Huge flocks of small blackbirds were swooping around the willow oaks, their soft twittering calls collectively loud. When they flew towards the meadows, foraging in the winter grass, it was easy to see that they were a mixed flock of foragers; I need to look up what they were, as they were much smaller than crows and some of our other common 'blackbirds.'
A beautiful red-headed woodpecker flew up into one of the nearby trees, giving me a glimpse of his (or her) bright red head. I first thought it was a red-bellied, since I haven't seen many red-headed woodpeckers in our area, more commonly red-bellied or pileated. A smaller downy woodpecker was working nearby; I didn't catch a glimpse of a red patch, so she was probably a female. I've always been interested in birds, but only in the last 5 or 10 years have focused on learning calls, field marks, and sizes of common birds.
Plants, animals, insects, and a variety of habitats made for a perfect winter morning excursion.
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