Tonight, I arrived just in time to see but not photograph the male bring a small rodent to the female. She went off to eat it quickly. While she was eating the male went to the nest twice. Then they both returned to the nest, before making a trip to the top of the Ritz-Carton together. The female then returned to the nest. This all took about ten minutes.
I watched the Ritz-Carlton nest on Thursday and Friday. On Thursday, not much happened between 5:00 pm and 7:00 pm.
So, on Friday I visited around 4 pm. When I arrived, the male was circling ear the nest with a small rodent, which could either have been a mouse or a small rat. Somewhat comically, two Rock Pigeons were chasing him for a few minutes. He dropped the rat off, but didn’t stay on the nest. He just left.
The female then left the nest with the rodent, went three buildings to the west, and ate it. She returned to the nest within ten minutes.
(This is typical behavior. To keep the nest clean, the female will almost always eat off the nest. And I’m not surprised the male didn’t stay and incubate the eggs. I’ve seen it take a few days for an inexperienced male to understand his “duties”.)
After she returned to the nest, we found the male in a high tree in the Hallett Nature Sanctuary. The Bluejays found him and after ignoring their abuse he flew west.
Tonight, I arrived to see the female brooding on the nest. She clearly was incubating at least one egg. Unlike the previous days, she was always on top of the eggs, making contact with her brood patch, rather than sitting upright. I didn’t see the male and the female stayed on the nest the entire time I visited from about 5:30 until 7:00. Nest watching can be a bit boring at times!
Red-tailed Hawks lay their eggs one at a time, 36-48 hours apart. When the first egg is laid, you see lots of behavioral changes. The female stops standing upright on the nest, and begins to lay flat. She also does a “shimmy”, where she wiggles to get the best contact between her brood patch on her chest and the eggs, when she lays down. The pair also does exchanges, where the male takes over egg warming duties and gives the female a break.
Today, I saw all of these behaviors. So there is a good chance an egg was laid. If so, this would mean we might have hatchlings on the last week of April or the first week of May. Fingers crossed!
The female of the pair was glued to the nest, although she was upright most to fit time. I only saw the male arrive briefly around 6:30 p.m. after I put my camera way. I really hope this nest works out!
The female Red-tailed Hawk of the Ritz-Carton pair spent the afternoon on the nest. The male visited twice while I was watching. She doesn’t seen to have laid eggs yet, but looks to be getting ready.
She can hide out of view on the nest, or can only be seen from the west or the east. She may have been on the nest on Thursday and Friday, when I couldn’t find her.
