Visiting the bald eagle’s nest reveals another type of “family”

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The red-tailed hawk is adjacent to two bald eagle chicks.

The red-tailed hawk is adjacent to two bald eagle chicks.

Look recently Bald eagle nest It’s not that big of a deal. It was certainly 1979. That year, there were only four nests known in Ohio. Spectacular birds of prey were primarily victims of DDT poisoning.

Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (suitable for acronyms!) Was a commonly used pesticide for agricultural purposes. When it entered the food chain, its effects were disastrous for certain bird species. In the case of bald eagles, DDT weakened the eggshell and prevented successful hatching.

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Richard Nixon was launched on January 20, 1969, and one of his first major initiatives was to address environmental issues. He signed the Environmental Protection Agency on December 2, 1970, One of the fledgling agencies’ first actions was to ban DDT.. It happened in the summer of 1972.

The recovery of the bald eagle after the ban on DDT was a slow road. By 1989, Ohio had 12 nests, and by 2000, nearly 60 were known.

The symbol of the majestic nation is now in the race. The Ohio Wildlife Service estimates that there will be more than 800 active nests in 2022, a sharp increase.

Take a hawk to a hawk

I’ve seen so many eagle nests over the years, but it’s completely different from what I saw on June 3rd. Photographer Stephanie Geyser sent me a note about the nest not far from Dublin. others. Her story urged me to come soon.

Jim McCormack

Jim McCormack

Upon arriving at the nest, two giant eagle chicks were sticking out like thumbs. Wait a second!There was a relatively elfin in the middle of them Red-tailed hawk Chick! It was about half the size of an eagle, but they all seemed to get along well. At one point, an adult eagle came and dropped a large fish into its nest. Everyone dug sushi.

By the time I visited, both eagles and hawks had grown almost completely and were frequently flapping their feathers. The young red tail even made a short hover and a test flight through the open air. The difference in size was amazing. A Bald eagle It weighs about 10 pounds, is over 2.5 feet long, and has a wingspan of about 8 feet. The Red-tailed hawkStatistics: 2.5 pounds, 1.5 feet long, and wings are about 4 feet long.

The question of a million dollars is how the hawk flew in the air of an eagle. One theory is that one of the adult eagles picked a red-tailed hawk from its nest and brought it back as food. The hawk miraculously overcame the trials, and the eagles were deceived and thought they belonged to them.

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The description is barely in stock. More likely, a pair of red-tailed hawks tried to use the eagle’s nest properly for their own use, but only to reveal a legitimate owner and regain it. By that time, female hawks had already laid one or more eggs and hatched them with eagle eggs. And it’s done! Strange companion.

Fly like an eagle

This is not the first known outbreak of the bald eagle breeding red-tailed hawks. It has been recorded twice in British Columbia and once in Michigan and Washington.

Bald eagle chicks are very competitive and are known to engage in fratricide — they sometimes kill each other. This is even more amazing for the hawk chicks to survive. However, the red-tailed hawk was so energetic that it did not seem to rob his giant brother of the gaff.

Perhaps in mid-March, everyone hatched at about the same time. Eggs of both species require about the same incubation period: 30-35 days. However, the hawk matures much faster and is ready to leave the nest after 45 days. Eagle chicks take about 3 months to fledge.

Indeed, within a week of my visit, observers reported that adult eagles were actively acting towards adoption. Raptor youth sometimes need some proding to make their first flight.

Now the young red tail is coming out on its own and hopefully it’s working. There were probably a lot of fish in that formative diet, and it would be interesting to know if it would continue the diet.

Naturalist Jim McCormack writes a dispatch column on the first, third, and fifth Sundays of the month.He also writes about nature in www.jimmccormac.blogspot.com..

This article was originally published in Columbus Dispatch: Red-tailed hawks were found to be bred among the bald eagle family

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