There were lots of trips to and from the nest and lots of time spend arranging the sticks. Both hawks seemed to be eager to do the work, although the female seemed to measuring the placement of the sticks with her body and then rearranging much more than the male.
Later in the afternoon, nest building resumed. They both gathered sticks. Sometimes breaking off tree branches and sometimes picking them up from the ground. When they picked them up from the ground, they also engaged in a game of cat and mouse with the local squirrels. They are being very industrious. Last year, they started nesting mid-March, so they do need to get the nest finished soon.
It looks rather certain now that 81st Street by the river will be the location of this year’s nest. When I arrived Saturday afternoon, they were both high in the sky near the Normandy building. They had spent the morning working on the nest and were taking a break.
It looks like the Riverside Red-tailed Hawk pair may be using their old nest from last summer after all. They haven’t been seen in the 90’s this week, but have been building back at their old site a few blocks north of the Boat House Café.
The female was doing remodeling when I arrived late on Friday afternoon. (Thanks to all of the Riverside birders, who emailed about the updated nest location.)
The female roosted near the arch again this evening and flew out early in the warm temperature. She met the male but ended up going her own way to the west side of the drive.
She went down to the lawn into a group of snowdrops, possibly getting an earthworm. She then flew across the drive back to the Loch. She flew over the road only a foot above it. It was easy to see how an owl could get hit by car traffic in the park.
I arrived after fly out to find both owls in the area of the stream where the trees overhang the water. The male was hunting and the female was calling. She even went down to the ground and got into the snow for a few minutes.
They ended up moving to the trees on the east side of the stream and it looked as though the male brought a mouse to the female, but it was hard to determine for sure. Our new male looks to be finally getting with the program.
