There is a Red-tailed Hawk family living in our neighborhood and over the last several days, the two juveniles have become very vocal. At first I thought there was only one juvenile and I would see the mother flying overhead hunting or calling. You can clearly see her red tail. The juveniles do not have their red tails yet. Yesterday the kids and I watched the mother and one of the babies in a tree across the street. We got a good close-up with the binoculars and it was fun because you know how when you see something like a hawk in a tree and are trying to show someone else and you keep pointing or saying things like, "where the branch goes down like a slide" and it seems like they will never find the bird and at the same time you can't figure out why they don't see it? Well, this time BOTH kids actually saw the hawks! You can tell when they are faking it and when they actually see it. And Samuel was even able to find them with the binoculars, which was exceptionally satisfying! They are glorious- the kids and the birds. And the juvenile just calls and calls over and over and the mother looks at him/her and looks around. She watches the human below the tree photographing her, she watches her baby, she watches and approaching Scrub Jay.

This must be the time when they are branching out a bit and really sitting in a tree alone and really getting to the point where they can find food as well. She tends to them very well and they call and call. This morning I heard a lot of ruckus outside and went into the backyard and the Ravens, Crows and Jays were chasing around one of the juveniles. This is when I realized there were two of them because one called from the tall Locust trees on another block and one sat calling with mom in the OAK TREE in our front yard! How fun is that? I sat down and watched and listened for a while until they all flew off.

Here are some photos in Ridgfield of Red-tailed hawks. The kids and I went to their bird festival last year and saw some amazing birds, including Red-tailed Hawks perched on the ground.

Last summer we had a baby Raven who hung out in the Maple tree in the backyard, calling and calling much like the baby Red-tailed Hawks. They make such a to-do and I frequently find myself rushing out to make sure everything is ok. Magoo came out to watch the Hawks with me this morning. She seemed unperturbed, however she did look around quite a bit when the babies would call out over and over. I was wondering if the momma might imagine she could eat Magoo. She seems a little big but then I recently heard from an Great Horned Owl handler that they eat grown skunks. So maybe Magoo is not a stretch. Agnes, however, is completely safe. No raptor could pick her up, that is for sure. With both of them sitting there together I felt Magoo was pretty safe. Still, she doesn't see very well and I am thinking of keeping an extra eye no her while these babies make their way in the world. I am sure, though, that there must be plenty of little rodents and gophers about, what with the park nearby and all of these lawns. I wonder if Charlie can hear them calling and what he thinks?

Oh, this reminds me. The day before yesterday, the kids and I were out on Sauvie Island meeting some friends at the river there and I saw two Bald Eagles flying together. They are nesting there and I had hoped to see them at some point and was just thrilled to look out my window and catch them flying by. We were quite close to them and you could really see just how large they are and I could clearly see their white feathers. This time, though, the kids did not see them. When I said excitedly, "Bald Eagles! Hey, did you guys see those Bald Eagles, " both kids, looking out the opposite windows, said, "Yeah....cool..." Not exactly the level of thrill that I was looking for. Oh well, they see a lot of birds, that is for sure.