Shannon O'Donnell spotted them this past Wednesday morning sitting on the water tower at 17th and Vine Streets.
While we wait and wait and wait for T2 to get to work on the nest, John Blakeman has some reassuring thoughts. I asked him whether, if T2 has never built a nest before, it might take him longer to get in gear than a more experienced tiercel on his third or fourth nesting cycle?
John's reply:
"Yes, the new tiercel's inexperience is almost surely the explanation for his lack of activity at the nestsite. It's still January. A lot of wild (well, rural) red-tails simply don't pay any attention to nest building or refurbishing until February. You are just a bit farther south, so things start there a bit earlier, but I think by only a week or two.
But out here in real red-tail country, in the countryside, wild RTs aren't
doing anything I can see with nests or courtship. Too much snow and short days,
which requires full attention in hunting.
The chances of the FI pair moving to some other nest site location this
year is very, very low. The formel has no imperative to go elsewhere. This is
where she's incubated, hatched, and fledged a good number of eyasses.
Now if things were as quiet in the third week in February as they are now
in January, I'd be a bit concerned. But not yet."
--John Blakeman
Posts
Thanks for your updates - and continued contact with JB.
ReplyDeleteYes, thank you very much. Last year was my first full year observing.
ReplyDeletegetting a little worried about T2... what is that scoundrel up to?
ReplyDeleteHas anyone had the time to check if the hawks are still near the institute? Since "mom" has used the same nest for 4 years do you think that she could take the lead and begin preparing the nest herself? user: xm4665
ReplyDeleteI saw a posting on facebook that suggests the hawks have abandoned this nest. Does that seem to be the case?
ReplyDeleteI was just checking for any news. And saw the comment above. I'm not on facebook. Any news, sunnydixie? Hope you, all the hawkwatchers, and the hawks, are well. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteHello there GhentArt and Anonymous...I just wanted to let you both know that something pretty big happened today! ( I wanted to relieve your stress and anxiety!) There are new pictures today and many many posts on Facebook...looks like Mom and T2 have decided to take up residency in the nest again this year! I am sure there will be more updates here. Just wanted to tell you what was going on so far.
ReplyDeleteThank you! That is great news. Looking forward to seeing the updates and then the nest when the cam goes live. :-)
ReplyDeleteI am re-reading this and now that our hawks are back, I am amazed that John's prediction was spot on - third week in February (plus a couple of days). Bravo, John.
ReplyDelete