>From Tim Mccarthy_5 @Hotmail.com via Ontbirds Hello fellow Hawkwatchers
Today's numbers at the Hill were anything but exceptional but if you will permit me a short ramble I do have some behaviorial observations which might be worthy of note. Recall how we observed yesterday the appearance of one and then another of the Juvenile Redtails in the old oak. That was a previously unheard of occurrence - to have 2 of the Redtails in that one tree. Then to have the resident coopers hawk join them right away and then to have one of the Adult Redtails come piling in followed by the Resident(?) Merlin that had to have meaning. It became obvious to us that these raptors had all been watching each other. They are sharp and they can se a long way when they hover in the air or sit on a vantage branch. The speed with which the second 2 birds arrived gave evidence to the fact that though we did not know they were within minutes of each others location wherever they were actually located that must have indeed been the case. This observation if turned from conjecture into fact means that at least on that day the raptors in the area were constantly aware of each other and respondant to a singular event. Today this happened again with the ad dition of 2 more Coopers Hawks interacting which may represent the family resident in the Park. Minnie (who has an obvious missing feather) and her mate Sooper and their kid Dooper? Since none these birds have ever been observed sharing a perch we can perhaps assume that their moving together may indicate something special. It was certainly obvious that they were all in an agitated state. Their frequent vocalisations and unusual closeness to the ground were behaviours not often seen with the frequency and intensity we observed yesterday and today. A possible conjecture, other than the fact that they were helping me celebrate my birthday is this - One must assume that at some point in the rearing of a Raptor brood that the adults, who have shown in the case of Robbie and Rita, our 2 adult Redtails, that they are non-migratory birds, must get to chasing the young birds off to live on their own once they have become self-sufficient. To not do this is to risk having too many contenders for a limited resource during a season where prey is harder to come by although High Park in winter with its many active mammals can hardly be considered that limited in resources. So if there is a proven abundance of food and yet the birds do not tolerate each other's presence it must be a custom or a ritual (with or without a reason to them, who knows?). The birds don't know anything about genetic diversity but you can bet Mother Nature does. If the young birds were allowed to occupy the same space as the adults, one of the adults were to subsequently die and be replaced by one of the kids (a likely scenario) then a cycle of inbreeding would get started. So the parents need to get separated from the kids. Could this be what has been happening the past 2 days with our resident raptors? We don't understand but a small part of their gestural and spoken language. Maybe the heightened state of agitation apparent in all our residents is just a part of the separation process along with the period of increased interaction which we all observed. Just because we had to kick our kids butts out of the house with a big fight when the time came doesn't mean that the fierce raptors we see above need to do it the same way. So what do we have in the way of possible conclusions? 1. Raptors in the Park (and everywhere else ?) are always much more aware of each other than we thought. Or is it seasonally more aware? 2. 'Tis the season to say goodbye to the kids and get them off on their own (or maybe its time for the adults to go south for a change and leave the kids with the keys to the Park). We'll know that pretty soon. 3. There's a resident Merlin or a family of them in the Park and isn't that cool? This spring we must get together with the folks in the Nature Centre and try to find a Merlin nest! 4. All of the above speculation will be added to our thoughts as we now more actively observe our resident birds. I will be the first to say that these incidental observations are far from proof and the processes of true science. But I'm also sure that all science begins with conjecture, exists at first in the realm of imagination and depends on the quality and quantity of observation to bring it through to proven fact. Maybe we've been cursed (or blessed) with too much time on the Hill to speculate because there sure as heck aren't many migrants to observe. Like: 11 Turkey Vultures, 1 Northern Harrier, 4 Sharpies, 2 Coopers (possible residents) 3 Redtails ( in addition to Robbie, Rita, and their kids Ralph and Rosie) and 2 American Kestrels. Now a lot of people have come up the Hill in the past month and half to see what we're up to and they invariably share with us their observations about Raptors in their own neighbourhood plus what they've seen in their wanderings around the park and elsewhere. I really think this sort of thing is a great big improvement on behalf of the vast uncaring bulk of humanity. Keep your eyes on the sky, folks, and keep telling us what you see. Maybe Nature has a future on this planet after all! Happy Hawking, Tim _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO) - the provincial birding organization. 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