A Second East Side Nest

  I’m in the process of rebuilding an old notebook computer of mine. I needed to make a trip to Fry’s Electronics on the northeast side of Indianapolis to pickup a new hard drive. The wife decides that as long as we’re in the area of one of her favorite city parks we should also visit the park. Ritchey Woods, one of the newer parks in Indianapolis, is a small park but is teaming with wildlife. As we enter the park we notice a large nest in one of the larger trees on the south side of the park at the west edge of the second prairie area.  

  I didn’t bring my spotting scope or tripod on this trip but my camera does have an optical zoom of 35 which the Mfg claims to be equivalent to 840mm.  The camera does a good job and as I study the nest through the camera I can’t tell if it is inhabited or not. As me wife and I make our way to the wetlands area of the park we come across several wood peckers, Downy, Red Bellied and a Northern Flicker.

  Just before reaching the wetland area, we are able to get a good look at the nest and I’m able to take several photographs of the nest.  It’s a large stick nest but I still can’t tell if its inhabited, also noted in the area a smaller nest which looks to be composed of twigs and leaves. I’m not sure which species of bird this nest belongs to, or why any smaller bird would construct a nest within the proximity of a large hawk nest.

Camera: Canon SX30IS

  Looking closely at the image you can just make out the head of a Raptor, I believe it’s a Red Tailed Hawk! This nest is still not easy to get to but at least I have a place where I can set up my cameras and video equipment that’s not in the middle of a highway or well traveled road.

                                                            

Camera: Canon SX30IS

As we exited the park, the wife noticed a large hawk in the row of trees at the west edge of the first prairie area. I was able to capture several images of the hawk before we left the park. As we drove away from the park I looked back, in the direction where the large hawk had been perched, just in time to see the hawk take flight and head in the direction of the nest.

 What a wonderful trip, we will be visiting Ritchey Woods many more times in the following weeks and months in hopes of capturing some good images and video of the Red Tailed Hawk family in action!!!

Turkey Vulture, Turkey Vulture and more Turkey Vultures

The Turkey Vultures are back in Indiana from their winter vacation!

 While some people don't find Vultures interesting, some even despise these birds and still others will tell me "These birds are no longer considered Raptors". Yes, I know the Vultures were removed from the Raptor list some years ago but I still enjoy seeing them! I used too be one of those people that despised any Vulture (and no they are not Buzzards, a Buzzard is for old world birds). I use to think, “They eat dead things how interesting can they be???”

As luck would have it, I became very acquainted with the resident female Turkey Vulture at RAPTOR Inc, Earl.  Yes Earl, as some times happens to birds in the world of humans a bird receives a male name until it lays an egg, such is the case with Earl.

Turkey Vultures are very social animals, if you’ve noticed they are typically seen in large groups (known as a wake).

                      
                                                           

Camera: Canon SX30IS

While at RAPTOR I learned that Turkey Vultures are intelligent as well.  RAPTOR was incorporating enrichment processes into the feeding of some of the birds, with Earl that meant hiding her rat in something. The first try as a paper bag, she had the rat out of the bag in just a few seconds. Next we used a phone book, Earl studied the puzzle then stuck her beak into the side near the center of the book and opened the book. Other enrichment items tried included pumpkins and a box, but Earl was up to every challenge!

The most interesting thing that happened when I was feeding Earl, she didn’t want to dine alone. I placed Earls rat in the center of her mew (cage) and then turned to leave, she grabbed my pants leg and would not let go until I turned away from the door to her mew. I waited for a minute or two and then tried to leave again with the same result. The third time I waited until Earl was well into her meal and then I slowly walked backwards towards the door. I quickly popped out the door leaving Earl very ticked in her mew.

These are some of the reasons I like Turkey Vultures, and as you can there is more to this bird than just eating dead things!
                                                             

Camera: Canon SX30IS

Question1. How does one identify an adult Turkey Vulture in flight? Look closely at the first picture, notice the pattern and color of the light feathers. This pattern is unique to the adult Turkey Vulture also the Red head is unique to the Turkey Vulture but this feature is seldom seen in flight.

Question 2. How does one identify Vultures in flight? Look closely at the second picture, notice the slight “V” shape formed by the raised wing tips. This is typically the flight posture of a Vulture. Vultures sometime pull their wings in toward their body to pickup speed and the V shape is not seen.

The East Side Nest

As the wife and I headed out a few months ago we noticed this nest on the southeast side of Indianapolis.

I had been passed this area several times in the past 5 years and not seen the nest here before. I believe its new for 2011. Today the wife passed the nest and noticed some activity, the image above is from a few hours after my wife passed by.

Its nice to see a nest but think the hawks could have picked a better location than near a busy highway. Ive looked around the east side of Indy for nests in the past and not been able find any. Hopefully  I will be able to get some better pictures soon.

The Raptor trip

Click here___ to see the Red Tailed Hawk video from this trip. On the road at the crack of dawn yesterday for a trip to Muscatatuck NWR. Then over to Starved Hollow area and then back to Muscatatuck NWR through Brownstown Bottoms. 9+ hours in all and only about .5 hour of video and a few stills {;-(. I thought about visiting Big Oak NWR or lake Patoka area but I decided not to use up a tank of gas until I have a job. I found out my Whooping Crane tracking system also tracks hunting dogs, Hum, not sure why hunting dogs transmitters are in the same frequency range as that used by Whooping Cranes????

I did see 5 Bald Eagles, four in the 135/Baseline Freetown area and 1 over Muscatatuck NWR. No good images or video, they just dont come close enough for my equipment {;-(. It looks as if a Bald Eagle nest is being constructed in the Freetown area. I stopped by the Bald Eagle nest near Starved Hollow but there was no activity there, It could be a little early yet. I also got to see the Muscatatuck NWR River Otters again, about the best part of the day, 20+ minutes of good video. I also was able to shoot a Red Tailed Hawk hunting for abour three minutes! I will add the video to the blog after I have a chance to edit it.


I was also hoping to see SandHill Cranes. Brownstown Bottoms is a good place to see Sandhills in the fall and spring, although I didnt see any on this trip.

Hawks are everywhere!

Red Tailed Hawk south side Indianapolis In. Camera: Canon SX30IS 

  As can be seen in this image, Raptors can be found in residential, commercial & industrial areas, sometimes even in commercial buildings! In this part of the country and Im sure in others parts it’s not uncommon to be driving down a city street and see a hawk soaring above or sitting in a nearby tree. 

  I spent four years in Cincinnati, on a job, and would drive back home to Indianapolis on the weekends. I started noticing hawks sitting in trees and on fences along my way. The first few years there might be three or four, the last year the numbers peaked to twelve to fifteen. The number in winter would be higher than any other time of the year.

 The larger numbers of raptors sitting near road sides in winter is due to a lack of food sources. In the case of the Red Tailed Hawk, a large percentage of first year hawks do not survive in to their second year! This is due to a number of reasons, lack of food during winter, taking chances on road kill, contact with power lines and more.

 A young Hawk that becomes a good hunter can survive the winter eating birds and other hard to catch prey. A poor hunter has survived into late fall eating bugs and small rodents, by winter this food source has died off or is under ground. The hawks then turn to road kill but this dodging in and out of traffic will be the demise of many a raptor.

An interesting image.

Captured at my apartment in West Lafayette, In. Camera Canon SX30IS.

  The apartment that I was renting, in West Lafayette, faced into a small nature area called Celery Bog. What a wonderful place to live for somebody who loves to watch and photograph wildlife. The day of this photo was a very snowy day and normally I would have been on my way to Indianapolis to be with my wife for the weekend. 

   Celery Bog was slow, so I decided to photography small bird, Wrens, Sparrows and such. I don't normally photography small birds unless they are Woodpeckers, Indigo Buntings, Hummingbirds or the smaller hawks and falcons.  I had been photographing small birds for about two hours when I decided It was time for a break from photographing. I had some chores that needed doing in the apartment

   I was only in the kitchen for about 15 minutes when I noticed a large Red Tailed Hawk in a tree across from the apartment.  The Red Tailed Hawk was watching the small birds that were working over my feeders and the bottom feeders that were working over the leftovers on the ground.  I grabbed the camera placed it on the tripod and started shooting. After the third shot, the Red Tailed Hawk left its perch in the tree and flew off.

   As I reviewed the images I came across this image. At first I thought I had moved the camera and the image was blurred and I almost deleted the image. As I stared at the image, I began to realize the image was not blurred but was instead two Hawks.  What a surprise, I had not seen the second Hawk but then again my field of view was very limited..