Male and Female on Nest March 31, 2009

Today I saw both the female and male on the nest. It appeared that the male was bringing in food for the female. The female was on the nest most of the day - moving sticks around.
At one point while watching - the female was on the nest and we were wondering where the male was - out of the sky from the top of the building he comes flying in feet first to make a landing on the nest. The wind was really bad today so you could see he was working hard at the landing.
Noticed on my way in to work that there were two Cooper's Hawks at the south east corner of the wood lot. Will need to look to see if they are also building a nest there.
Both photos were taken from the 5th floor window. So quality is quite poor.

March 30, 2009 2 photos of Cooper's Hawk and Red-tailed Hawk on the nest (one where she is flat on the nest)

Nesting Time - March 30, 2009

Nesting Time:
This morning it is apparent that the red tails at SCC are on the nest. Arrived at work - Jack and I checked the nest and could barely see one red tail spread out on the nest. When the one red tail left - the other one arrived immediately and spread itself over the nest immediately. It hunkered down and can barely be seen.
It is a very cold day (snowing a bit) and during lunch I went out to have a look. The tree is swaying a bit with the wind and the red tail is hunkered right down. All I could see was the tip of the tail. As I went for a walk looking for the second hawk. I noticed in the Frank Faubert woods a beautiful female cooper's hawk right at the corner. Photos to be posted later.
In the afternoon 2:30 pm on my break - I saw both hawks flying together. Within a couple of minutes the one was back at the nest with a stick in the mouth and back on the nest.

March 26, 2009

Very quiet day on the nest - only saw the female on the nest. I understand the others saw them flying around on the 5th floor.

March 25, 2009

Jack was the only one to see the 2 red tails on the nest today. Today they started to bring in new material to the nest. Bark and other soft material. At break I went outside to watch and the red tail was actually stripping bark off the tree. Was able to watch her and then get one close up shot of her.

Talked to a red tail watcher about the stripping of the bark and here is the explanation: bark stripping is used like an insecticide. some bark does repel insect - this is a natural form of insecticide.

March 24, 2009

Very little activity today until 10am. The female continued to build the nest and just as I was about to leave she started to soar around and around. She built up speed as she went higher and higher around the building. Very very cool.

March 23, 2009 Almost a tragedy

Female returning to nest - see paper

Caught in construction paper

Today both the male and female were busy -the female on the nest working and the male bringing in sticks at 8am.

At 10:30 I went down for my break to see a terrible sight - the male red tail was tangled up in a very large construction sheet (his one leg and claw was stuck and then his tail got caught as well). He was screaming and flapping his wings trying to get free. Finally the bottom portion of the sheet broke off and he was able to fly but still had a large portion of the sheet behind him. He flew into the nest and you could see the construction sheet hanging down. The second red tail came into the nest with a branch. Eventually he flew off with the paper still attached. He did not return.

At one point the female was sitting on the nest and Jack and I could hear here crying inside the building. Jack then went out for a walk to look for him in case he went down in the woods and was trapped.

At 3:30 pm I was told both red tails were seen and they were flying outside the 5th floor window. The one had a mouse in his claws and the other was just soaring.

It was not a great day for hawk watching.

March 20, 2009 from Carol P

I was off work today but Carol sent me an email about the red tails:

The red tails were busy this morning flying in and out of the nest which seem to be bigger and more visible from the 5th floor window. I saw the male sitting on the low barred branch decidious tree on our side of the borough drive this morning.

March 19, 2009 - Both Red Tails working hard

Today the red tails were working non stop all morning. I was able to get some shots of the male flying in with sticks. The size of the sticks are quite large. Amazing how he can carry them. The female spend quite a bit of time on the nest doing some housekeeping. She was breaking branches above the nest, bringing down pinecones and just cleaning up.

March 18, 2009

The nest was discovered by Tadeusz at work today. There are two red tails soaring around the building all morning. They have been very busy breaking branches off trees and taking them to the nest. You can actually see the nest growning in size. By 12 noon they are gone.