Neighbors

To date, everything I have written has been about wellness, heathy living and warrior servants moving into the retirement chapter of their lives. Sometimes, things need a slightly different perspective. I recently realized that I have been observing and photographing a mated pair of red shouldered hawks who live in my neighborhood for about three years. During that time, I have amassed a number of photos that document their behavior and learned a good deal about the duo. Since my bird watching/photography is related to wellness as I have as I have previously shared with readers, I thought a blog about this pair specifically and briefly what I have learned about them/the species might be in order.

Red shouldered hawks mate for life. Unless one of the pair dies, once they are paired up, they are together forever. These two have been together since I have been paying attention. They eat pretty much anything that they can catch (with the notable exception of squirrels) and fly away with but seem to focus on small mammals, lizards, and amphibians (as the diminishing frog population in my pond is evidence of). They also eat other birds. I once witnessed an attempt on a mourning dove at my bird feeders that ended in a puff of feathers. The dove made a narrow escape. Red shouldered hawks are frequently noisy and their distinctive “scree scree scree” will grab your attention and pierce the still morning air.

Each bird has a surprisingly distinctive personality. For example: the female of the pair I am familiar with is placid and easy going. She has allowed me within a respectable distance and tolerates me fawning over her with the camera quite well. The male on the other hand, is skittish, jumpy and, on occasion has been a downright shithead. If the two are making use of our bird baths and I walk out, he flies off immediately while she is prone to loitering and keeping an eye on me. On one occasion I was watching as the male was being “mobbed” by chickadees as he sat high up in a pine tree when he suddenly “fell” from the branch, then extended his wings and talons and made a lightning dive at my bald head! I ducked, and he missed me by a couple of feet.

These are beautiful, graceful creatures. I am grateful that I have been lucky enough to have been able to see and photograph them on a regular basis for so long. Also grateful the male didn’t split my scalp the day he dove on me. But he did remind me that we need to respect wild animals (I was keeping my distance-he was 40′ up in a tree). Nonetheless a reminder. Take the time to look around where you live and listen. You just may have some feathered neighbors like these two who can entertain you and enrich your life too.

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