Smoggy Skies

Recent forest fires in Banff and around Western Alberta have left the Southern skies smoggy and grey. The fire is burning about 3 hours drive from Fort Macleod and one evening we could smell the woody smoke in the air.

(Parks Canada Photo)

It was only a few weeks ago that we were watching the flood waters of the Old Man River creep dangerously close to the bank across the road from our house. Here you can see how far from the river the debris traveled.

This is the view of the Old Man River from our field house on a good day. The river is now tame enough to kayak and tube down which I hope to do at some point.

Undeterred by threats of floods and fires, we continue to observe the hawks. This week I have been checking up on some of our nests South of Fort Macleod near the Montana border.

Here the native prairie grasslands gently roll along, sometimes being disrupted by a river and rocky outcrops. The landscape feels wild here, so when I came upon this Golden Eagle, it seemed perfectly in place.

The pure white tail with a dark band is seen only on hatch year Golden Eagles (this years young). The tails become progressively dark with each year as the bird matures. With smoggy skies in the background, this juvenile giant flew over a herd of cows, it's wingspan was almost the same length!

Unfortunately some of the fledglings decided the road was a great spot to sit and wait for mum and dad to deliver food. Many motorists see the birds in the road and figure they will move so don't bother to slow down. The young hawks, still learning to fly, lack the flight skills to move quickly and have yet to associate vehicles with danger. Road collisions are one of many human threats that the birds face each day. I chased this guy into the field for his own good.

At a different nest, I noticed the female was getting harassed by an Eastern Kingbird. Kingbirds are very defensive of their nests and will attempt pluck feathers and generally annoy raptors that get too close for comfort.

Looking up at the sky and paying little attention to where I was walking, there was suddenly a loud flapping in front of me! I had almost walked right into a very surprised FEHA fledgling!

Trying to look as big and scary as possible, it stretched it wings out and bared it's beak!

By the end of the week, all but a few late layers will have empty nests. The project will begin to focus more on assessing the perching sites around the nests and other significant habitat features.

They're Off!

At around 50 days old the young begin to fledge! For the first few days they tend to stay close to the nest and will spend a day or two sitting in the branches around the nest before they make the leap. 

Spotting the newly fledged young can be a challenge. As you can see, this young FEHA was doing a pretty good job at hiding behind a leaf. One down, I had to try and find the other 3 fledglings. One was way out in a crop field sitting on a sandy mound, the other two were hiding in some long grass. Once the other young were located I made a quick dash for the truck, turns out the nest was very close to a  swarm of bees!

This fledgling was feeling brave and took flight in my direction when I checked his nest today.

Easily distinguishable from the parents, the young hawks fashion a light brown bib and have less feathering on their legs.

Some prefer to take it easy and wait for mum to bring the food.

There are no shortage of Swainson's Hawk fledglings around, so many in fact that I forgot to take a picture. Instead, here are some other raptors I've seen on my travels.

This is a male Harrier hawk. These birds nest on the ground and are often seen hovering in search of food around marshes. I've seen only 1 harrier fledgling so far this season. This adult male had his eyes fixed on the ground and didn't seem too bothered by my presence. 

Red Tailed Hawks are the most common hawks in North America and are a common sight in Southern Alberta. They generally have a distinctive brown band on their chest and the name sake, red tail. Their calls never fail to give me chills, if you've never heard a Red Tail call, it's worth a listen, HERE is a link if you haven't.

Once fledged we no longer monitor the nests. Consequently the number of nests left study are getting fewer by the day. It's sad to see the young leave the nest but watching them running along the ground with their wings out trying to catch food for the first time is truly hilarious. I'm really going to miss these hawks.