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Ten days ago I spent some time with a couple of sibling and recently fledged Red-tailed Hawk youngsters in northern Utah. I was hoping they’d be at this awkward learning stage after leaving the nest but it had been some time since I’d visited the area and they were still in the nest at that time so I was afraid they’d already dispersed to find their own territories. I was really\u00a0happy to see them.<\/p>\n
This is the first of the two I found and by the time I turned my pickup around so I could get my lens on the bird it was gulping down the last furry remnants of a vole. At this stage in their development I’m sure\u00a0the vole\u00a0had been delivered by one of the parents so I was disappointed to have missed the delivery and there was no adult in sight.<\/p>\n
Some of my readers may not appreciate this but in order to keep the siblings\u00a0straight in our minds I’m going to call this one “Mutt”.<\/p>\n
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But soon the lighter-chested\u00a0youngster flew in and landed next to its slightly older sibling (I make that relative\u00a0age assessment based on behaviors I observed). Meet “Jeff”, the bird on the\u00a0left –\u00a0yup, Mutt and Jeff.<\/p>\n
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They were obviously “fond” of each other. Jeff kept nibbling on\u00a0Mutt’s neck who seemed to accommodate and even appreciate\u00a0the seemingly affectionate gesture.<\/p>\n
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When Jeff crossed in front of the older bird to find an acceptable place to perch on\u00a0the other side he slipped and almost fell\u00a0off the rock in his clumsiness. Mutt’s facial profile looks strange because he’s holding his head upside down in curiosity as young raptors (especially owls) often do in situations that are new\u00a0to them.<\/p>\n
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When Jeff started preening and plucked one of his own feathers Mutt once again showed intense interest and curiosity by the tilt of his head (as if he\u00a0was saying to himself “What is that white thing and where did it come from?”).<\/p>\n
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After almost\u00a014 minutes together Mutt exited stage right. His departure was unexpected and Jeff was still grooming and not paying attention so when…<\/p>\n
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Mutt’s left wing apparently clipped the top of Jeff’s head it caught him off guard and produced a…<\/p>\n
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startle reaction. It may look like Jeff’s about to take off too but he stayed behind and I drove on up the road to see if I could find Mutt on a different perch that didn’t have obstructions in front of it. I did find\u00a0him again but he wasn’t very well exposed on the new perch either.<\/p>\n
I’m sure these two birds have left the area by now\u00a0in their\u00a0attempt to carve out their own niche in an increasingly challenging world. I wish them luck. Given the dismal first year survival statistics of young Red-tails their chances aren’t good but at least they have\u00a0that chance.<\/p>\n
Ron<\/p>\n
PS –\u00a0 I didn’t have time to add complete image techs but most of these photos were taken in the range of 1\/2500, f\/7.1, ISO 500.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fourteen minutes condensed into eight photos to be precise. These are behavioral images and none of them are great shots but I think most of us here on Feathered Photography appreciate interesting behaviors at least as much as we do “pretty bird photos”.<\/p>\n