12 Noon

Apr 12

Rain swept thru much of Raleigh this morning and although I saw both Mama and Papa at the nest area, there was no way to take any pictures.  By midday, the skies brightened up but there were still clouds moving in and out making it a little tricky w/exposure.

Mama was eyas-sitting and Papa was flying around the Wells Fargo.  I waited for Papa do do a food drop, but there was none as Papa continued to fly around the Wells.

At almost exactly 12 o’clock (DST), Mama stood up and I thought she was out for a stretch, but nope,  It was time to feed the younglings.  It looked like the food delivery was done earlier or maybe they have leftovers from breakfast :).

It normally takes Mama around 10 minutes to feed, but today, it took a while longer, almost 20 minutes.  Are there more eyasses to feed or are they just getting bigger (about 1 week old now) and need more food?

After feeding, Mama turned around and headed out to tidy up, again, using the crown of the Capitol building as a beak-pick :).

I was expecting her to fly back to the nest, but instead, she flew south-east.  There were 2 Red-tails in the air and NONE at the nest!  My, my. That’s irresponsible! … Or so I thought.

Less than 20 seconds later, Papa was on his way to the nest.  Responsible parents? That’s an unequivocal, YES!

Papa checked on the younglings and then took off, once again leaving the nest unprotected!

After taking a few spins above the Wells, he landed on the Wells where Mama was already parked.

Seconds later he took off and while I was chimping on the camera, he flew into the nest, unnoticed.  I guess Papa had to check with Mama if it was his turn to eyas-sit and it was. Hey, Mama needs time to refresh and recharge too!

Next Hawk Watch is on Monday, April 15.  In my last post, I had a typo and wrote April 5.  It should be April 15.

Ciao

JP