Last weekend I saw two pairs of redtail hawks about a mile from each other. I haven’t researched it yet, but I’m guessing it’s getting close to mating season and they’re getting ready. The hawks were hunting of course, but they were sitting about a foot from each other on the same branch. I watched the first pair for about 15 minutes, drove around to the other side of the tree and watched them for another 10 minutes or so. I was far enough away not to disturb them.
I was actually looking for that dark morph hawk I saw several weeks earlier, trying to figure out exactly what type of hawk it was. Haven’t seen the dark morph again. The last time I saw him he was being chased away by an adult redtail.
Switching gears…..
I thought I saw a rather large chipping sparrow at my backyard feeder. After careful examination and a quick look at my Audubon Field Book of North American Birds, I realized it was a tree sparrow. This guy is about an inch bigger than a chipping sparrow, and the markings are very similiar. The tree sparrow lives in upper Canada and winters in the midwest, as well as other places across the U.S. I’ll follow-up this post with some information from the book.
Have regularly seen a red-breasted nuthatch at my suet and of course, chickadees, cardinals and finches at the feeder.
