Hawks Again

(A continuation of the hawk story, which was first blogged about here, here and here)

The three remaining hawk babies have made it successfully to young adulthood.  It took longer than I expected for them to learn to fly, but eventually they began getting brave and venturing out of the nest.

 

We would see them on various limbs of the pine trees testing their wings --

and making little tiny flights from branch to branch.

There was a little mishap where one fledgling got a little too brave and ended up on the ground -- much to his surprise:

My neighbor had to get him out of the street, and he also put a ladder up against the tree to help the little fellow get back up.  The little hawk hopped around the yard for awhile and we went to bed not knowing what had happened, but the next morning all three hawks were back in the nest so somehow he figured it out.











They were screeching all the time -- I could hear them first thing in the morning, and I thought the momma had quit feeding them (maybe her way of motivating them to learn to fly and get their own breakfast), but my son saw her do a drive-by feed where she flew over and dropped a snake into the nest and kept going.  So she was still keeping an eye on them.

They have since learned to fly, but they haven't ventured too far from home base yet.  We see (and hear) them all around the neighborhood.

Sometimes they are flying low and haphazardly, like teenagers learning to drive.  My husband saw them practice their hunting skills today, playing with a worm.

I will miss seeing them in the trees --

sometimes lurking --

sometimes pondering --

sometimes looking quizzical.

Hope to see you around, little hawks!