Spirits fly high with comforting appearance of red-tailed hawk

The red-tailed hawk is the most common hawk in the region. (ERNIE COWAN) 

ERNIE COWAN Outdoors

For a few brief moments I could fly.

My mind and heart were soaring on the spread wings of a red-tailed hawk as it floated by at eye level.

Without a single wingbeat, the hawk’s tail feathers flared as he banked to the right and the crisp morning sunlight ignited the brilliant red plumage.

With awe and childlike imagination I was right there, at one with the hawk, floating on gently rising air currents.

A leftover raindrop dripped from my patio roof into the fountain and snapped me back to reality.

As is often the case, the sunny morning following a rainstorm is a special time. Nature seems to go on as usual, but there is a sense of rejuvenation in the air.

The morning sunlight was warm and refreshing, a relief from the previous cold, damp days.

My hawk sighting was comforting.

Nature’s clock is still ticking.

This beautiful mature hawk was a good sign. We can look forward to another season of hawk courtship, nesting and chicks fledging.

It’s about this time each year that the hawks begin their mating ritual, followed by a flurry of activity as they touch up the huge nest in the tall pine tree about a half-mile north of Mt. Whoville.

It’s the natural rhythms that determine these things.

My morning visitor is hopefully part of the monogamous pair that have nested here over the past few years and a sign that courtship will begin very soon.

The courtship display is magnificent and often something I can enjoy at eye level or below since I am perched on top of a ridge overlooking expanses of chaparral.

The wooing process is almost poetic with the hawk pair engaging in spectacular aerobatic maneuvers that often begin with the smaller male bird circling high above the larger female then dropping quickly and touching her briefly.

This is followed by tumbles and dives, swoops and flares, extended talons and sometimes even an offering of food from male to female.

During this process mating will happen and soon there will be eggs filled with life in the nearby 3-foot-wide nest.

We know the eggs have hatched when the squawking of hungry chicks fills the air and we see the more frenzied activity of the adult hawks as they forage for their demanding youngsters.

Once eggs are deposited in the nest, they will hatch in about 28 days. During that time, both the female and male will share incubation duty, but it will be mostly the female hawk. The male will bring her food, but she will hunt when the male is tending the eggs.

At about 46 days the chicks are ready to leave the nest and that’s when the show on Mt. Whoville begins.

Awkward fledglings, lacking the red tails that don’t develop for six months or so, will be encouraged from the nest by parents. Lacking confidence, or desire, they will land in nearby trees and continue to scream, demanding to be fed.

The adult hawks will ignore them and soon you will see the youngsters flying side by side with parents as they learn to hunt on their own. It’s so much fun to watch.

For a time, you might see the youngsters hunting with more confidence, but soon they will set off to establish their own territory and begin the cycle all over again.

The annual cycle of nature’s renewal has begun.

You may not have red-tailed hawks nesting right near you, but as the most common hawk in the region, locating a nesting pair to observe should not be difficult. It’s a perfect sit-and-see activity.

Maybe our roadrunner pair will show up again this year with another youngster or my game cameras will capture a new crop of coyote pups, or even a baker’s dozen of baby opossums clinging to the back of their haggard marsupial parent.

This morning there were two spotted towhees fluttering together in obvious courtship, and for the past few nights we have heard the hooting of great-horned owls as they begin their mating ritual.

Spring is just around the corner. Soon, the yellow-rumped warblers, affectionately known as butter butts, and white-crowned sparrows will depart for summer homes far to the north.

The oak titmouse and woodpeckers that left summer breeding grounds to enjoy winter feeders here at Mt. Whoville will return to their regular territory at higher elevations of the county.

Our gardens will come alive with spring blossoms, colorful hooded orioles and hummingbirds and the new crop of songbirds, quail chicks, opossums, raccoons and squirrel babies.

At a time when the human world is so fraught with challenges, it’s comforting to know that nature ticks on faithfully.

Is there any wonder why I free my mind to soar with the hawks?

Email ernie@packtrain.com or visit erniesoutdoors.blogspot.com.