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.
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