Getting Antsy in the Nest

It has long been believed that Ferruginous Hawks prefer nesting in lone standing trees in undisturbed native prairie. Although many of the nests we have found have fit this description, some hawks break these rules by nesting outside of houses and on roadsides where trucks kick up dust clouds as they roar past multiple times in an hour. 

Here is a new active nest I found this year. This pair found a nice quiet tree row down a dirt track to call home. Many FEHA return to past nests each year and after years of refurbishment these historical nests get so large and heavy they can break the tree branches.

   

Up to now we have been collecting data from the road side using a spotting scope and binoculars to observe the incubating females. After weeks of being glued to the nest the dedicated mothers are getting fidgety. Some are looking into the nest and tucking their heads down which usually means someone has hatched. In the nest few weeks we will be visiting nests, taking pictures of the young and taking nest measurements. The data from these nest observations and visits will be used to determine the impact of different types of disturbances on the hawk breeding success. 

The weather in southern Alberta involves long cold winters with hot and windy summers. This year it seems as though Spring lasted only a few days. Climate change will likely exasperate this already extreme climate. We have set up 4 weather stations this week. Data from these stations will allow Masters students at the University of Alberta to look for relationships between extreme weather events and nest failure. 

The Great Horned Owls are weeks ahead of the hawks, these owlets were testing out their new flights feathers when I drove past. 

Once free roaming the prairies by the millions, buffalo now live a fenced-in existence. Still, seeing these mothers and their calves enjoying the sun was a delight.

More Swainson's hawks, they are less flighty which makes them easier to photograph. This one wasn't so happy about all the attention and yelled at me as it flew away. 

Next week will involve setting up bird song meters and looking into FEHA nests!

Sharing Lunch With New Friends

At the moment we are recording hawk nests within our study area in Fort Macleod. This involves driving up and down every road within six mile square blocks looking for nests made of sticks. 

In theory this sounds pretty simple, and it is, until your map shows you a road that needs surveying but instead of a nice gravel road you find two deep muddy tractor tracks, the road turns into a pond and then back into the road, or the road becomes a crop field and you have to reverse 800m because there is nowhere to turn around. Then you sit in your truck debating with yourself whether or not to risk getting stuck and having to ask the local farmer to pull you out. There were no sticks around to test the depth of the pond plus the ducks seemed pretty content without me causing a rip tide so lets just say I'm getting pretty good at driving backwards. 

The Ferruginous Hawks arrived around the beginning of April and we are trying to find as many new nests as possible before the leaves are out. As the days begin to warm up I've noticed the Swainson's Hawk have come flooding back and many stick nests that previously appeared unoccupied now have a fresh lining of dried grass, the tell tale 'straw hat' nest of a Swainson's hawk.

Swainson's Hawk

I am lucky enough to catch glimpses of many of Alberta's threatened species. So far this includes an American Badger, Long Billed Curlews, Bald and Golden Eagles and a Prairie falcon. These species are often illusive and are out of sight before I can get my camera lens cover off.

Two days ago I noticed two dark objects in a Hay field. Being a hectic day I continued to drive to my next surveying route. The route happened to take me not to far from where I originally spotted these strange dark objects. I had pulled over momentarily to look at a map when..

Two very cute and very smelly pigs appeared in my wing mirror!

Grunting and snuffling around as they trotted over.

I couldn't help but share my lunch with them. They chewed up the sweet peas and baby carrots I gave them with most of it ending up on the road, but that's OK, it can't be easy to chew with your mouth closed when you are a pig, plus it was fun to watch.

After a few minute they tried eating my shoes and then realised I was all out of treats.

And so they snorted off into the distance.

They might not be a threatened species, but they definitely made my day!

Ferruginous Hawks

Ferruginous meaning rust-coloured, these hawks have a red-brown back and leg feathers with grey-black primaries. Their underparts are mostly white with the tell tale brown V from the rusty leg feathers. With a wingspan of 135cm, the Ferruginous Hawk (Buteo regalis) is the largest hawk in North America.

Provincially endangered and federally threatened, the hawks are under threat due to loss of native prairie, agricultural expansion and resource exploration. Ferruginous hawks or FEHA, prefer to nest in a lone tree surrounded by native prairie where they can find ample prey, mainly Richardson's ground squirrels. A single breeding pair and offspring can consume up to 500 ground squirrels in one breeding season. Being sensitive to disturbances, adult birds are known to abandon nests and or young if they are disturbed early on in the breeding season.

The FEHA overwinter in Southern Prairie provinces of south western USA and Mexico and return to Canada in early April. In Canada breeding pairs of hawks are found mostly in southern Alberta, Saskatchewan and have recently re-established in southern Manitoba. Habitat loss has reduced their historic range by about 50 percent. Not so long ago when the prairies were still roamed by wild Bison, bison bones would be used as nesting materials. More recently, nests are found to be comprised of dead grass, sticks, roots and cow dung.

My first opportunity to take a picture of a FEHA so far this season. Looks like I need to get a telephoto lens. 

 It didn't stick around for long.

Other threats to these hawks are predators such as Raccoons, Magpies and Great Horned Owls . 

During nest checks it's not uncommon to find great horned owls and their fuzzy white owlets occupying a historic FEHA nest.  

At the moment my job involves looking for new and historical hawk nests and recording data. The hawks are currently deciding where to nest or incubating eggs. 3-5 eggs are laid in late April to early May and are incubated for 30 days. As the filed season progresses we will be monitoring the progress of the nests and banding some Ferruginous Hawks.  

I met these curious faces on a native reserve on the hill tops near to a wind farm that can be seen in the distance.

There is something very tranquil about seeing horses grazing freely on a sunny day.