This spring we had unusual and exciting activity on the farm. Up in our neighbor’s big sycamore tree, we got to witness a red-shouldered hawk family being raised. First spotted when we planted our onions, we enjoyed watching the birds all spring long. We saw the babies being fed mice and snakes and watched the parents fly the skies. Then one day I was showing my mom the nest and we didn’t see any babies, but just as we were about to turn away, Evan saw one on the ground. It was much too small to be fledging so we panicked!
Fortunately we have both Brukner Nature Center and The Raptor Center at Glen Helen close enough to consult what we should do. This was on a Saturday evening at 8 so we left a message on both centers emergency line and didn’t have to wait very long for a call back. We were told to capture the baby and bring it to the Raptor Center that night and were told a cat carrier would be just fine for the transport. Fortunately my mom, who was visiting to see the babies, lives in Yellow Springs so she shuttled the baby to the raptor center about 9:30 that night.
Then we had to wait patiently (which turned out to be hard- we contacted the center a few times during the wait!) for the bird to be checked out and given the all clear to return home. Meanwhile the other baby in the nest was getting so big, we worried the fledging would happen before a successful return to the nest could happen!
We were told the babies may fledge but that they hang around the area as a family for several months more and are fed by the adults still and don’t travel far while they master flying. Sure enough the one baby left the nest and the very next day the center called ready to return not only the original baby but a second red-shouldered hawk that had no nest to return home to! Red-shouldered hawks will adopt baby red-shouldered hawks so long as they are about the same age! We were so happy both our neighbors and we were home to witness the very cool return to the nest! A tree climber, who volunteer rescues cats from trees and returns birds to nests, came out and a falconer handeled the babies.
The babies stayed in the nest for a day and then they fledged too! We hear them call every day all day long and they have just been hoping from tree to tree along our neighbors wooded area, just like the folks at the raptor center said would happen. This is the second year these birds have nested in our neighbors tree. Last year we missed the whole adorable babies in the nest thing, but I do remember one fall day when several large hawks flew across the farm from one tree line to the other one at time. From their markings we thought Broad Wing hawk but those do look similar to Red-Shouldered. It was really majestic and Audrey assumed it was a bird family learning to fly. Feeling pretty confident it was the Red-shouldered parents and their brood. Obviously it worked out for them to want to return for another year. We hope they’ll be back next year too!
For very cool videos of both this specific hawk return, other bird returns and sweet kitty rescues, check out our new hero, Duane Hook’s socials!