“They grow up so fast…”

I do have pictures of other birds to publish, but for now I’m focused (ha ha) on the Red-shouldered Hawk nestling(s). I first saw one a couple of weeks ago, then saw it again about a week later.

The following day the nesting was even more visible, and didn’t have the annoying branch across its face.

Four days or so later, there was bigger news: there wasn’t just one nestling, there were two!

After a few rainy and windy days, they both stood up tall enough to be seen together.

Last Friday, one of them was brave enough to walk out onto the branch to the left of the frame. Perhaps it got tired of the nest, or maybe there wasn’t enough room for them both there. It was also stretching and testing its wings.

Saturday and Sunday, they weren’t visible. I wasn’t sure, they might have left the nest, but they might be further out on the branches.

However, yesterday (Monday), they weren’t on the nest again. I was fairly sure they had fledged.

As I walked down the hill from the nest, I heard Red-shouldered Hawk cries from two different locations. These were persistent “find me food” type cries. As I walked further on, they both took flight and flew over me, circling each other. I knew they were the immature fledglings, because their tails didn’t have the prominent banding that is seen on a mature Red-shouldered Hawk.

I couldn’t get a picture of both, and I considered myself lucky to have taken a halfway descent picture of one of them in flight.

I hope to see them again over the next few weeks. They’ll stay close to the nest and their parents until they decide they need a bit more independence.