Whew! So much breeding bird activity to check out, follow up on, chase down ... I'm not complaining, but it would be nice if they'd save some for the rest of the season! Some recent raptor families: Red-tailed Hawks (very neat location on a church ledge) and four LEO chicks in what was practically my back yard growing up.
I just saw a bevvy of LEOW chicks yesterday, I imagine they are the same ones as Jo was sketching. They're fantastic things to watch!
I don't have a photo or sketch to show for it (never,
in my life, have I so much regretted not having brought the camera along!), but I do have a mental image that will stay with me for life:
The rain has just stopped, and the sky is still overcast. Three of the four siblings sit, crowded together, on an angled piece of timber - the remains of a (mostly collapsed) split-rail fence. They are in the open, just at the edge of a pine plantation. The fence borders a narrow area of tall grass - a farm lane, much overgrown. The smallest of the three decides to attempt a short test flight over to a fairly substantial-looking stalk (last fall's mullein) in the middle of the grassy area. He makes a perfect landing - and the mullein, utterly unable to bear his weight, gently collapses into the tall, sodden grass. The chick disappears from view, not emerging for some minutes.
Oh, the embarrassment.
Peter C.
A.H.O.R.B.