The hawks are continuing to grow. They have grown from babies to teenagers in just a week's time it seems. They have been getting braver and will walk out on the branches a little way.
"What are you looking at?"
Their grownup feathers are coming in.....
although not all at the same rate. This bird is still quite white.
The nest is getting smaller by the day.
Yesterday a combination of crowded nest plus maybe a little foolhardy bravery resulted in this little guy falling to the ground, which he was not too happy about.
He looked smaller on the ground than when he was up in the tree. And you can see that it's too early for him to be flying -- all his good feathers are not in yet.
After consulting with some bird experts, my neighbor (who does know about the nest) took this little guy to a raptor center where they are equipped to take good care of him. There was no way to put the bird back in the nest and the bird guy said that it was possible the other birds had pushed him out to start with, since he seemed a little smaller than the others.
They are red-shouldered hawks. And we were wrong about the number of babies: instead of three, there were four. NOW there are three. Yesterday evening the mama brought them a pretty good sized snake to eat. I think she did notice that someone was missing, and in the wild that probably would have been the end of this little guy, but now he's being well taken care of.
Let's hope the rest of them make it out of the nest with no more drama.
Awwww... bless your compassionate heart for taking him to a place where he can be taken care of! Hope the rest are ready to soar soon...
ReplyDeleteWhat wonderful photos and experience to see these baby hawks. That last photo really tugs at your heart strings. I'm glad he had a safe place to go. Just an amazing post!
ReplyDeleteWhat an exciting next instalment in the hawk saga! So glad the one that fell / was pushed out is going to make it. The harsh reality of unexpurgated nature can be heartrendingly cruel but not for this little one thankfully. He / she does look so cute with his half adult / half baby feathers. Dare I ask whether the snake for the teenage birds' supper was a copperhead?! I do hope you manage to see the fledglings when they finally get strong enough to fly the nest.
ReplyDeleteFascinating story! It's wonderful that you are able to be *part of* this wild nature happening. Thanks for sharing great photos.
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