Double Trouble

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This is the second spring that a pair of Red-shouldered Hawks, Buteo lineatus, have chosen to nest in my neighborhood. Their nest sits snug in a large Red Oak tree around the corner from my street; it’s the same nest that they built last year and you can read about it here.

In recent weeks, one or both adults have spent time perched at the top of my SIL’s life-supporting snag, the remains of the once living Arizona Ash tree. Usually, there is one adult atop the snag, but often the mated pair sit companionably together, preening and observing the goings-on in the neighborhood.

It’s nice to observe the still, calm birds and to clearly see the front and back feather patterns of the hawks. The front red shoulder with barred chest combines with the warm, burnished brown and banded tail feathers in back to create a lovely bird. The bird on the left (I think it’s the female) demonstrates the name of this hawk quite well with the ‘red’ draped across the shoulder. Red-shouldered hawks’ intelligent dark eyes watch for prey, their formidable talons catch that prey, typically in flight.

These are magnificent birds, beautiful, graceful–and huge!

If you’re squeamish about a hawk’s meal, close your eyes as you scroll passed this next photo. I’d been called outside by a neighbor about a non-hawk event and when I headed back inside, saw this adult, smack dab in the middle of the sitting area of my front garden, enjoying its meal of rat. The hawk was wet, as a downpour had occurred earlier, but that didn’t negatively impact its meal. The hawk wasn’t happy with me when I grabbed my camera for a photo. It called at me a couple of times, then picked up its meal and hopped to part of the garden where I couldn’t easily follow, and so, could eat in peace without the bother of an obnoxious human.

Fair enough.

Aside from these two gorgeous adults, it’s more than just double hawk trouble! The couple produced two baby hawks, eyasses, which have become visible in the nest as they’ve grown. They’ve traded their white fuzzy feathers for semi-adult plumage, and I believe they fledged this week, in the last day or so. No more bobbling baby hawk heads, the nest appears empty of its young occupants.

I caught a shot of these cute little raptors about 5 days ago. It always amazes me how quickly wild babies grow, especially birds.

I hope to see this family hunting in the ‘hood and I look forward to more hawk watching as summer moves forward. My neighborhood hosts this pair and their offspring, a pair of Red-tailed Hawks, Buteo jamaicensis, and at least one pair of Cooper’s Hawks, Astur cooperii. That’s a lot of hunting in the skies. I wish them all rodenticide-free rats and mice, as well as other delectables (ahem–we have plenty of White-winged Doves, European Starlings, and House Sparrows) for the taking.

Just sayin’.

Pinks on Pinks

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When deciding what to plant in a particular area, I take into account a number of factors: amount of light the plant will receive, how large the mature plant will become, whether I have a hose nearby for the mid-to-late summer watering, and what other vegetation occupies the area, so that there is a complementary blast of colors and textures year-round and that the community created all play nicely with one another.

However, plants tend to have will of their own and do as they please, growing where their seeds land, despite the gardener’s intentions.

The Tina-planted plant is the Pink Skullcap, Scutellaria suffrutescens, a spreading, low-growing evergreen sprinkled with small pink flowers throughout the long growing season. The I’m-gonna-land-where-I-please plant is the mallow Rock Rose, Pavonia lasiopetala, hovered with arched branches and open-petaled flowers, over the Skullcap.

Pinks on pinks, I’m charmed by the Barbie-esque look!

Since the photo, I’ve cut back the Rock Rose as they respond well to pruning because they bloom on new wood. Trust me when I say that it’ll grow back quickly enough. The Skullcap has been in that spot for many years and had spread to about four feet in diameter. During late winter I pruned it to a two-foot diameter mound, making room for some other plants to settle in next door, out of the photo’s range.

Clearly, these two twin pinks get along and I’m sure in short order, there will be further pinks-on-pinks as summer moves forward and everything continues to grow apace.

Watching a Bewick’s Family

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This past Wednesday morning I was privileged to observe two baby Bewick’s Wrens, Thryomanes bewickii, fledge from their protected abode into the big, wide world of my garden and the neighborhood beyond. During the previous weeks it’s been a true pleasure to watch the parents, one after another, bring bits of limbs and grass into the nestbox, and later, provide nummies for their chicks.

This parent is ready to leave the nestbox after a birdie door dash delivery.

Bewick’s Wrens aren’t the prettiest of birds, as they’re coloring is muted in tan and grey. But they are some of the cutest little things, with their light “eyebrows” and tiny, energetic selves.

An unknown something sits in the parent’s beak, ready for hungry chicks,

…and at another feeding time, something different for mealtime.

Often, one of the parents would land at the hole of the nest box and peer in. It didn’t necessarily bring food, but apparently wanted to check on the kids, like any good parent.

I like the S curve of this parent’s form, just before take-off to find more food for the babies.

Each morning at sunrise, once it was clear that the chicks had hatched, the parents took turns bringing food offerings to their offspring and that work lasted the whole day. Sometimes the treat was a safflower seed or a small blob of suet from feeders in my garden, most other times, insects were the choice de moment. The parents worked tirelessly to bring food for their little ones in an impressive demonstration of shared parental responsibilities. A couple of times, toward the end of a day, I’d spy an adult wren perched somewhere, sitting and resting, probably worn out from the ongoing care of its young ones.

Until the last day, the chicks were quiet in the nestbox until they heard or felt the parent land on the box. At that point, lots of sweet baby cheep cheep commenced, the chicks voicing their hunger and readiness to eat. On the day that I witness the two young wrens leave the nestbox, there was constant chatter from the box, until there were no more chicks in residence.

I had just walked into the catio, when I realized that one of the parents was atop the nestbox, while a little head–a smaller, exact replica of the parent’s–was at the nestbox window. The little wren belted out with great confidence, flitting upwards and out of my sight. A bit later, I realized that another chick was at the window, but this one was reticent about joining its sibling and parents. I watched for about 15 minutes, the chick poking its head out, looking around, making efforts to perch at base of the hole as if ready for flight, only to lose confidence and disappear back into the box. The chick repeated this pattern several times. Eventually, it gathered enough gumption and plunged out of the box, winging upwards, lightly touching the overhang of the catio roof on its way out, and then on to a Turk’s Cap limb at the back of the garden where I lost sight of the newest garden resident. Of course, I’m kicking myself that I didn’t grab my camera during that time, but I didn’t want to miss a minute of this little one’s entrance into the world. Sometimes it’s more rewarding to simply observe.

I saw two chicks exit the nest box, but there certainly could have been one or two more that left before I came on to the wrens-leaving-home show. For the rest of that day, there was a constant tsch tsch tsch of adult Bewick’s Wrens, no doubt giving the newest garden inhabitants advice about their wider, more complicated home: Look both ways before you fly to the tree! Be careful in that shrub! Don’t eat that, it’s bad for you! Eat this, it’s good for you! Watch out for the Blue Jays, they’re obnoxious bullies! That weird human is going to want to take pics of you, steer clear of her!

I’ve definitely seen the adults, but I’m not sure I’ve actually seen any chicks. I wish them well; the world certainly benefits with more wrens in it, I think. They are darling little birds with big personalities and glorious songs.