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Greetings from the Resident Naturalist

I'd like to take a minute and share a few insights into an annual ritual that our local Red-tailed Hawks perform each summer.

We have a nesting pair of Red-tailed Hawks on the northern part of Blue Crane Creek, on 3 Creek Ranch. This pair has two beautiful chicks, easily seen in the nest, about 20 days old at this time. There is another pair of Red-tailed Hawks nesting, with one nestling, about a km to the north of #5 green. For the past several days, I have watched two hawks spiraling around each other, one diving down on the other, quite fast and with talons outreached. Talons slicing through the air is a formidable warning, any one of those talons striking another could be fatal. My immediate response..."a territorial dispute among neighbors, raptor style". However, based on the past 15 years or more of watching birds, and raptors in particular, here is another explanation of this incredible display. A nesting pair of hawks with babies in the nest really doesn't want to waste energy arguing with neighbors over turf...that was settled during the nest building phase months ago. There is work to be done: building a nest, quietly setting up shop, delivering sticks to the nest, spending time getting to know the neighbors, defining and settling a few boundary disputes...not to mention getting on with the tasks of killing prey to feed the babies and your mate. Thus, after these early discussions, neighbors respect the boundaries and typically get along. This makes sense from an ergonomic standpoint. However, the encounter I watched is likely a nesting adult hawk interacting with what we call a 'floater', meaning a hawk that is not paired up, not nesting and without a territory. Rather, these individuals 'float' around the valley trying to make a living, no real summer home, and bump into every damn territory and territorial bird there is. And each time this happens, the lone 'floater' bird gets beat up, chased, dived on and run out of the area with talons flashing...along with a few choice words as well...only to move down the valley and start the entire cycle over again and again and again. The territorial bird, typically the male, now returns to the nest area with his chest pumped up, totally convinced that his mate thinks he's the hottest thing on two wings for defending the house, job well done, peace in the valley...until the next 'floater' shows up.

So, that is what is going on, neat stuff really. So the next time you happen to see a pair of hawks tangling with one another in the sky overhead, it just might be a day in the life of the homeowner versus the non-owner, or something like that...

Hope you are enjoying the summer.
Best regards,

Roger
Resident Naturalist