Feb 18, 2008 - I've noticed a hawk flying around in the last week or 2 and today I noticed 2 hawks flying around together and watched for awhile until they both landed on the 'Nest tree'. I figure they are 'mom' and 'dad' from last year and having had success raising 'Cruz' last year, they are planning another year in the same nest. Oh boy! They seemed to be working on getting it fixed up for this years nesting as they flew in and out. We'll have to start thinking of a name for the future baby!
Mar 3 - We saw mama hawk today as she flew in, checked out the nest for just a few minutes and then flew off. I ordered a Zhumell spotting scope with a camera mount, so I'm hoping to get some better pictures this year. Here's a few from last year that were from just holding my HP 927 digital camera up to the scope lens of a Nikon 20-60x80 spotting scope.
Mar 8 - Spotted mama hawk today around 3 as she flew in, checked out the nest for just a few minutes and then flew off.
Mar 9 - April 3 - Have seen both parent hawks flying around sometimes together. Both visit the nest from time to time. Mom seems to be spending more and more time in the nest and I frequently hear her 'squawks' from the nest even though I can't see her in there.
April 4-21 - Both parents have been around and one has been always on the nest for the last week or so. I think they are sitting on an egg at this point.
April 22-30 - We named momma hawk 'April' and poppa hawk 'Sky'. April has been sitting on the nest all the time now. Sky comes by now and then with some food which he shares with April. Normally when April is on the nest, all we see is her tail feathers. But while eating she gets up on the edge of the nest and fluffs her feathers while she pulls apart whatever Sky bring her.
May 1 - 7 - April has left the nest a few times this week but only for a few minutes each time. Have seen Sky deliver food a few times and also seen April eating a few times on her own.
April' - Momma Hawk
'Sky' - Papa Hawk
'WoodStock' - Baby Hawk 2008
May 10 - After observing April sitting on the nest most of the time for the last few weeks, we finaly saw a new 'white fuzzy head' pop over the top of the nest for just a few minutes! We named him 'Woodstock'.
May 11 - Saw April & Sky flying overhead. Both were calling out. April flew to the nest first followed by Sky a minute later. He stayed for a few minutes and then left. April has been on top of the nest several times pruning herself. Only a brief glimpse of a few white fuzzy feathers for Woodstock.
May 12 - April in nest but no signs of Woodstock today.
May 13 - Today I saw what I think is 2 babies! Not sure but time will tell.
'Tweety' - Baby Hawk #2 2008
May 14 - We definitely have 2 babies this year - I guess we'll call the other one - 'Tweety' to keep with the cartoon theme. We saw April feeding them and at one point we could see all three sitting together. April does leave the nest regularly probably to get food.
May 21-23 - Wednesday was very windy and the nest tree was swaying a lot - maye 2-3 feet. Didn't spot any birds, they were probably down in the nest holding on! Thursday was also windy and a large Santa Cruz fire started this morning, More gusty winds and again no bird sightings. Friday morning was fairly calm wind wise but now the smoke from the 'Summit Fire' is hanging in the air. In the afternoon, the wind picked up from the north again and the air cleared up. I spotted April in the nest finally.
May 24 - We spotted April flying for food and saw both Tweedy & Woodstock poking their now mottled black & white downy heads up for a look around. April was feeding them something grey & furry. Yuck. No smoke today from the Summit fire which is still burning.
May 26 - Saw April feeding one of the babies and the baby picked up the grey furry piece and tipped it's head back to swallow the piece but it was too big to swallow in one gulp and the part stricking out of it's mouth was a tail. Double yuck.
May 29 - Saw both Woodstock and Tweety at lunch today. One of them had a big snake hanging from it's mouth! I watched for awhile as it swalloweed it. I'd guess it had about a foot left oput of it's mouth and after a few minutes it finally got it all down. No tearing it apart, just keep it going down until it disappeared. Oh yeah, the 'summit' fire is finally out today. 4270 acres and 31 houses and 63 outbuildings burned.
June 1-10 - We are concerned that one of the babies 'Tweety' has died since we haven't spotted him in many days. Woodstock continues to grow and now hops around the top of the nest. He is getting browner every day and is exercising his wings more and more. He squaks for food often and we haven't seen April for awhile, but we also haven't been wathching all the time, so she could be stopping by to drop off food for Woodstock.
June 14- Woodstock is making his way around the nest a lot now. Squawking for food quite a lot.
June 15 - We watch Woodstock exercising his wings a lot now. Today both April & Sky (Mom & Dad) came flying through our trees just maybe 30 feet above our heads! They fly fast and seeing them zooming between the tree branches at breakneck speeds one behind the other is really something. They then flew around some soaring higher up and then went north from here probably looking for food. Woodstock is hopping from the nest and made his way about 6 feet up one branch. He's discovering that it's easier to get around when he spreads his wings for assistance. Around noon we see Woodstock eating something, so mom & dad's search for food must have been successful.
June 16 - Woodsock continues to expand his roaming area around the nest and was climbing all around the top of the nest reee today. I watched as he made his way up about 10-15 above the nest and then jumped down with wings out to the nest below.
June 17 - Saw April come by after Woodstock was squawking for a few hours. She dropped off food and then left again. Woodstock munched down and then took an afternoon nap. Later he was up on a limb above the nest again spending most of the day there. Finally he made his way down to the nest and then went up again.
June 18 - Woodstock was eating again - something furry and grey. He was exercising his wings some but didn't seem as energetic today. Maybe because it's really hot. We are expecting him to try flying any day now.
June 19 - Woodstock was eating again in the morning and spent most of the day at the top of the nest tree, probably 20 feet above the nest. He squawked a lot and seemed to be looking out over the valley for his mom to come by and see how close he is to jumping off and flying to the next tree. He stil lhas some down feathers on his legs so I'm not sure he's ready yet.
June 20 - Again Woodstock is up the tree at one minute and then down in the nest the next. He squawks all the time and I can hear him from my office here. It's another very hot day, probably around 100!
June 21 - We woke up to a lot of squawking this morning and we found Woodstock had flown from the nest tree and was now in the tree on the nearby our property! We couldn't see him in the tree but he was there somewhere. Finally around noon, April came by with some food and went to the nest with it. She waited there until Woodstock made a return flight to the nest tree. However Woodstock's flight back brought him in about 20 feet below the nest and he had to jump and hop his way back up. He finally did make it and settled in for lunch. April left him there.
June 22 - Woodstock is really getting into flying today making several flights from the nest tree to our tree and back. His flights back to the nest are better now and he usually makes it to the nest directly instead of some branch. I watched him take off one time from the top of the tree and he just lifted himself off and glided over to our tree again. April was around and Sky also as I saw the 2 of them flying together. April also came by the tree on a lower branch and sat there when Woodstock was squawking at the top of the tree somewhere. She waited and listened to his calls.
June 23 - Not much viewing today - too much work. I did hear a lot of squawking most of the day.
June 24 - Heard Woodstock a lot today but not much viewing again. I did catch him on one flight which he is getting better at. I had to laugh at his squawking when flying, it's very distinctive. When he's sitting on a branch, his squawks are 1-2 seconds long and usually only once every 15-30 seconds. When he flys, it's short squawks once for each wing beat. It's distinct enough that I can tell from inside when he flys.
June 25 - Spotted Woodstock sitting on the end of a branch in the nest tree in the morning. He alternates putting a leg out and curling up his claws and tucking them up into his breast under the feathers. Not sure why, maybe to practice sitting on one leg? Or maybe to warm it up?
June 26 - July 26 - Woodstock is flying around and getting better at flying and going futther away as he gets older. Many times we just hear him from across the valley. His flying gets visibly better each time we see him flying. More silent and with better control all the time.
'Cruz' - Baby Hawk 2007
Last year's baby 'Cruz' on June 3 2007