JKNatureGallery Wildlife and Nature Photography

Oct 1. We were not able to search for our hawk family today. I will be archiving the September red-tailed hawk
news in the next couple days, it can be accessed via the Archive Contents.

Oct 2. We were not able to search for our hawk family today. I will be archiving the September red-tailed hawk
news in the next couple days, it can be accessed via the Archive Contents.

Oct 3. We were not able to find our hawk family today. We have only seen Mama and Papa lately, it has been
a few weeks since we last seen Chief and Ivy. It is possible that the youngsters may have left the area to find
their own territories. We will continue to search for the hawks, obtain new images and try to determine the
status of the youngsters. We still see Monarchs migrating, although it seems their are fewer numbers of late. I
also have been seeing Hummingbirds in the area the last couple weeks.

Oct 4. In the late morning today we spotted Mama, she was escorting a mature migratory Red-Tailed Hawk out
of her territory. The visitor was aggressive with Mama as they flew to the Easterly section of her territory. Mama
did not engage the visiting Red-tailed hawk and made many evasive maneuvers as she continued to escort the
visitor out of her area. The visiting Red-Tailed Hawk appeared to be a male based on the size difference, he
was much smaller than Mama. After five minutes Mama returned without the visiting Red-Tail and continued to
oversee her territory. This may be a reason that we have not been able to easily find our hawk family of late,
they may be more actively patrolling their territory from passing migratory Red-Tailed Hawks and other raptors.

Oct 5. Mama and I believe Papa were adding twigs to a new nest that was started just after the youngsters
fledged their nest this spring. They had left this particular site alone throughout the summer until today. There
was a number of new twigs added along with extended soaring over this location. I think these activities were
more of a pair bonding process than the start of a new nest. It remains to be seen if they decide to actually use
this nest location once the nesting season starts in January 2008. Papa seemed darker and a bit larger today. I
have not seen him in the past 6 days. I'm not sure if it was a combination of his winter plumage and the very
hazy filtered sunlight late this afternoon that made him appear different than normal. I will try very hard this
weekend to find and obtain images of Papa.

Oct 6. We spotted Mama patrolling her territory soaring overhead very high in the sky late this morning. She
eventually flew off to the western section of her territory. We were not able to find Papa today and this
mornings observation of Mama was the only sighting of her for the day.

Oct 7. We spotted one member of our hawk family on a familiar building late this evening. The distance and
low light made it very difficult to determine the identity. It appeared to be one of the parents.

Oct 8. We didn't see Mama or Papa today. However, a big surprise to see Ivy. I had thought after not seeing
either Ivy or Chief in about 3 weeks that they may have moved on to find their own territory. It was great seeing
Ivy, she looked very good. Unfortunately, I didn't have a camera with me when we spotted her flying very low
overhead, just a little higher than roof height. Ivy moved on quickly as she was in pursuit of a meal.

Oct 9. We spotted one member of our hawk family in the early evening. Unfortunately, it was getting dark, we
were at a great distance and we couldn't identify which hawk we were observing.

Oct 10. We spotted Mama and we think Papa. Mama was on top of her favorite very tall apartment complex and
didn't move for over an hour. Due to the distance and low light we couldn't positively identify if the other hawk
was Papa.

Oct 11. Due to the bad weather we were not able to search for our hawk family.

Oct 12. Mama and Papa were both soaring over their territory today. Mama was most active in the central and
North Eastern section. Papa spent some time in the central section and then proceeded to the Western section
where he spent most of his time while I observed them. Mama added more twigs to her new nest site, it will be
interesting to see if this will become the nest location for 2008 or if it's just a pair bonding type ritual. I captured
some wonderful images of Mama that I will post in the Raptor gallery on Saturday.

Oct 13. At the start of our search for our hawk family we spotted two Peregrine Falcons flying together, one
eventually flew of to the West and one to the South. We found Mama just after she had caught a Pigeon, she
was resting in an Oak tree with her catch. Mama eventually flew off to a couple of other trees, she spent a few
moments in each tree before she proceeded to fly back toward the central portion of her territory and out of
sight. I had caught up to Mama a bit later to find her in the distance sitting on top of an apartment building
chimney. A couple hundred yards to her West Papa was sitting on the rooftop of a buildings stairwell. He
appeared to be finishing the Pigeon that Mama had caught earlier in the day. Once he completed his meal
Papa flew off to the West to escort a Peregrine Falcon out of his territory. Papa returned shortly after to sit with
Mama on the chimney for about 15 minutes. He then flew off out of sight. Mama stayed on the chimney for
almost 2 hours. I have added new images of Mama and Papa from Friday and Saturday to Page 18 of the
Raptors gallery.

Oct 14. Ivy visited us today, we had not seen her for a few weeks and thought she may have left the area in
search of her own territory. It was great to see her soar past our yard just ten feet above the ground at high
speed. Ivy then rested in a nearby Maple tree about 20 feet above the ground for a while before taking off for a
meal. Mama and Papa both enjoyed the windy day today. They both soared very high in the sky and covered
significant ground with effortless flight. At one point they both seemed to be playing in the sky together. Mama
and Papa eventually disappeared from sight in the Southern section of their territory for the evening. I will post
new images of Ivy, Mama and Papa on Monday.

Oct 15. We were not able to search for our hawk family today.

Oct 16. We were not able to find our hawk family today.

Oct 17. I had a limited amount of time to search for our hawk family this afternoon. On my brief walk I was not
able to find any of the hawks. I have added new images of Mama and Ivy from Sunday 10/14 to the Raptor
gallery on Page 18.

Oct 18. Today we had another surprise, Chief is still in the area and doing fine. He was located near the nest
area sitting on a street light. Eventually he flew over to an office building roof and appeared to have some food
there from an earlier catch. Unfortunately, we did not have any camera gear with us, so no new images of
Chief. I have added new images of Mama and Ivy from Sunday 10/14 to the Raptor gallery on Page 18.

Oct 19. Due to the rainy weather we were not able to search for our hawk family.

Oct 20. We spotted Mama and Papa soaring from one side of their territory to the other as they used the windy
day to effortlessly glide quickly from one section to the next. At one point about 20 or more Starlings harassed
Papa as he flew to the East.

Oct 21. We spotted Mama late this morning soaring high over the central section of her territory, it appeared
she was searching for a meal. Mama and Papa later in the day were escorting what appeared to be a migrating
Red-Tailed Hawk out of their territory to the East. I will add new images to the Raptor gallery on Monday.

Oct 22. Mama and Papa spent a good amount of time in the area of their nest today. When they were not flying
high in the sky they were sitting on top of a very tall apartment complex in the area. I wasn't able to get any new
images today. I have posted images from 10/20 and 10/21 to page 18 in the Raptors gallery.

Oct 23. We were not able to search for our hawk family today.

Oct 24. During the late morning a Cooper hawk was circling above our home looking for a meal. Due to the
rainy weather throughout the day we were not able to search for our hawk family.

Oct 25. Due to the rainy weather throughout the day we were not able to search for our hawk family.

Oct 26. Due to the rainy weather throughout the day we were not able to search for our hawk family.