She's back! The dark-morph Red Tail Hawk that I introduced in this blog in 2011 and who every year successfully raised a brood in one of two saguaros in the state trust land next to our property is on her old nest again. In January I found some green boughs of creosote and mistletoe hanging from the one of the old nests, indicating activity. I also watched the distinctive dark hawk defend her territory against a visiting Harris Hawk. But that chase took her way south into Picture Rocks, miles from the old location, so I thought she might have moved? Three weeks ago, a very light hawk took off from the saguaro nest. Now I think that that was her mate, so they were already incubating. Hawks start that process after the first egg is laid, while some other birds, especially our Gamble's Quail in the chicken family, wait until the clutch is complete before the female sits down to incubate. Two different strategies: raptor chick hatch in sequence. That spreads the risk and allows the parents in bad times to concentrate on raising only the bigger first born(s). The precocious quail babies have to be ready to leave the nest together, so they need to hatch simultaneously.
Raptors should not be disturbed when they sit on eggs because they may leave them. They are much more devoted to the hatched chicks and not as easily discouraged at that time. So we waited until today with our next visit.
We stayed so far away that even with binoculars I couldn't tell whether there was a bird on the nest. I took some photos anyway and could then see in the blown up image that it is the dark female again! But even though I was at least 500 meters from the nest and in the cover of a wash she still took offense and flew up. But she did not leave the area.
Landing on a near by saguaro she scolded and screamed and then took to the air to follow my retreat closely, and Randy thought he saw the male high above in the sky. I did not get to peak at the nestlings. The dark female has always been extremely protective, and she really doesn't like human visitors. So no wonder that her nest is nearly exactly in the middle between the road, the quarry, and our land, as far as possible from each location. We will leave her alone again, most of the time. I wish her success and another pair of healthy chicks!
