JKNatureGallery Wildlife and Nature Photography

January 4. Early this morning Papa flew over his central territory. Both Mama and Papa spent a significant
amount of time this afternoon together on a local office building rooftop. Toward sunset Papa made a fast
and direct dive for food.

January 6. Mama flew high over the central portion of her territory enjoying the breezy day. Papa was
busy a 1/2 mile SW of Mama. He landed a number of times on a tall apartment complex and made
numerous flights out from that vantage point for about 2 hours. On one of his later return landings he
appeared to startle a juvenile Red Tail Hawk. The juvenile flew off to quickly to identify, however, it may
have been White Face as it flew off in the direction and area that White Face has adopted for now.

January 7. Mama and Papa enjoyed each others company today. They spent over two hours together that
we observed sitting on top of a few different office building locations watching over their territory.

January 8. Papa appeared after the clouds cleared and the wind picked up. He flew over the central
portion of his territory. At one point the sun illuminated his red tail to a fiery red color. Not a few minutes
after we were also treated to his distinctive Red Tail voice, always a treat to hear !

January 10. Mama and Papa spent the afternoon on the Easterly side of their territory today. Mama spent
time on a very tall apartment complex and made a number of flights high in the sky. Papa spent time on an
office building for most of the late afternoon.

January 11. Papa was very active today. He spent over two hours that we observed in the central portion
of his territory. Papa spent some time on top of a tall office building when a pigeon on nearby rooftop
caught his attention. He made a direct plunge toward the pigeon just missing it, Papa settled on this
buildings rooftop for a brief time. He then moved to a nearby tree where the setting sun illuminated Papa
with a soft glow of light. Papa's images from today can be viewed on the main page and additional images
are located in the raptor gallery. Papa flew off and spent about 15 minutes on a lamppost eventually
returning back to the previous tree. Within seconds of landing he made a dive to the ground under the
tree catching a rodent for dinner. Mama spent time on a local office building rooftop just West of Papa, as
the sun was setting she moved to the area Papa had been hunting.

January 12. Mama and Papa spent the afternoon in the central portion of their territory. Mama flew off to
the Eastern section of their territory to sleep for the evening. Papa stayed and moved around from tree to
lamppost within a small area looking for dinner. He eventually gave up and flew off to the NE section of his
territory. It was early enough for him to continue looking for a dinner meal, he probably stayed in that area
for the evening

January 13. Papa sat on top of a tall office building in his central territory. After a brief time observing him
he flew off to the West after an apparent meal. Shortly after Mama appeared on the roof of a apartment
complex where she stayed for about 30 minutes. She also flew off to the West section of their territory for
the evening and out of sight, it was late in the day and getting dark.

January 20. We spent this windy and very cold day with Papa. He was very active today hunting for a
meal. He made many attempts to catch one of the many squirrels that were out feeding on acorns.
Between missed attempts he landed on Pine trees and mighty Oaks to rest before trying again. He finally
made a successful catch in the late afternoon and eventually settled on an Oak tree to eat. Of course
after all the waiting the lighting in the location he selected to eat was far from optimal for photography.
While watching Papa today, Mama was also spotted flying in the same general area. However, she stayed
further East of our location and did not join Papa during our observations. On the way home Mama was
sitting on an apartment building antenna just before sunset.

January 21. Papa was sitting on top of a local office building in the central portion of his territory. A couple
hundred yards to the East of Papa two Cooper Hawks were very active flying from Oak trees to Pine trees.
They were very vocal, constantly chattering and keeping each other in sight as they moved about the
trees. Off to the South of the Coopers location a Peregrine Falcon sat at the top of a water tower. Papa
was not disturbed by any of their presence as he rested on his high perch. On the way back home Mama
was already situated for the evening on one of her favorite sleeping spots.

January 22. Papa spent some time on a local office building in his central territory today. He then
proceeded to the SE section of his territory. He flew into an area of mature Oak trees where we lost track
of his direction. We looked in the Oak trees but it appeared he did not land as we could not find him. We
did not see Mama in any of her favorite spots.

January 23. Mama was sitting on top of a very tall apartment complex and Papa was sitting on top of a
very tall office building. Neither one of them moved from their respective locations while we observed them
for a short time today.

January 24. Mama and Papa spent a significant amount of time together today. We observed them in the
central portion of their territory moving about from tree to tree. The two of them spent time together in a
large Oak tree. Mama appeared to have eaten recently as her crop was full and she was very content.
However, Papa was much more alert watching for a potential meal. He made a number of attempts to
catch a squirrel to eat. While we were observing he did not catch anything but he came very close each
attempt.

January 26. A Sharp-Shined Hawk was sitting in a bunch of mature cedar trees in the early afternoon
today in the central section of our Hawks territory. Papa made a spectacular stoop from a tall office
building to the ground near some shrubs and caught a mouse. He flew off to eat on top of a telephone
pole. Once he was finished eating he resumed flying around enjoying the windy cold afternoon day. We
watched Mama make a sharp stoop to the NE, we were not able to see what caught her eye. Later on
Mama was in her favorite sleeping spot for the evening.

January 27. Mama sat and rested on an apartment complex roof Antenna for about 2.5 hours. She then
flew off to the West for the evening. As we watched Mama fly out of sight, we noticed a Cooper hawk
sitting near the top of a tall tree. Shortly after spotting the Cooper hawk it took off after an early evening
meal with a spectacular dive under an overpass and just above many fast moving vehicles in the area.

January 29.Papa was sitting on tall apartment building roof for a short time very late this afternoon. Not
long after spotting him he took off without us noticing for the evening. Mama selected her favorite sleeping
spot for the eveing.

January 31. Mama and Papa spent a great deal of time together today. Mama spent time adding material
to her nest and arranging the twigs. Both Mama and Papa spent time sitting next to each other on a high
vantage point taking in the afternoon sun. They also spent a good amount of time flying around their
territory enjoying the beautiful day. This evening Mama was settled in for the night on her favorite sleeping
spot.

January 31. Mama and Papa were both sitting on top of a tall office building today. They spent a good
amount of time together next to each other. After an hour Papa flew off and Mama stayed on the office
building, she moved to different locations on the facade and eventually flew off to sleep for the evening.

February 3. We spent over 2 hours on this cold day with Papa. He was first spotted in a tall Oak tree on a
sunny branch. He seemed very settled, so we proceeded to look for Mama. During this time we noticed
Papa chasing another Red-Tail, they circled all around us about 100 yards off. Eventually, Papa chased
the intruder SW. It was difficult to determine although it seemed that since there was not much effort
displayed chasing the intruder it could have been White Face. The SW direction is also the last area that
we had seen White Face occupy. A while after Papa was back on his sunny branch high in the Oak. We
did not see Mama today. After some more time on the branch Papa flew off to the NE, once we caught up
to him we watched as he was hunting for dinner. Not to disturb his hunt on this cold day we went home.

February 4. Today was an exciting and very cold day. Mama and Papa were together all afternoon. Papa
was back on his sunny Oak branch. Mama was on the roof of an office building about 50 feet away. Papa
flew over to another smaller Oak tree where Mama joined him. Shortly after the two mated, this was the
first observed mating for this season. The event lasted about 10 seconds, the two made very low
screeches while mating. Photographs from today are located on the main page and in the raptor gallery.
After they were done Papa returned to Mamas side, they sat together for fifteen minutes. Mama then flew
off to Papa's sunny Oak branch and Papa remained in the smaller Oak tree. Shortly after Mama and Papa
mated a Peregrine Falcon flew directly over us to the SE at a very high rate of speed, our hawk family did
not seem to mind. We returned home and left our hawk family settled in their adjoining Oak trees.

February 6. Papa was enjoying the day flying high in the sky in the central portion of his territory in the
early afternoon. Mama just started eating a squirrel in a tree they commonly use for eating. Papa was
directly above her sitting patiently while Mama ate her meal late in the afternoon.

February 7.Looking for our hawk family an immature Cooper hawk appeared. A noticeably full crop, the
Cooper must have recently ate a meal . We spent a couple hours observing the Cooper hawk as it settled
in a few different trees, took in its surroundings and moved to another tree and did the same thing.

February 8. We did not look for our hawk family today. However, Papa flew high in the sky over the central
section of his territory in the mid-morning. We also spotted either Mama or Papa high in the sky enjoying
the breezy day in the early afternoon closer to the SW section of their territory.

February 9. Papa was sitting on his favorite sunny branch. He stayed for about a half an hour then
proceeded to fly off to the NE. He circled around for a while and then flew out of my sight. I proceeded to
look for Mama and I cam across a mature Sharp-Shinned hawk. The Sharpie had a full crop and was very
content. We spent a couple hours with the Sharp-Shinned Hawk, it relocated to two other trees is the sun
as the sun became shade on the prior tree. On the way home Mama was working on her nest. She added
more twigs and after 20 minutes proceeded to West section of her territory for the evening.

February 10. Mama spent a brief time sitting on top of a very tall office building, She left when our vision
was obscured by a building as we proceeded East. We did not see her the rest of the day. While looking
for our hawk family we spent most of the day with a Sharp-Shinned hawk who had just eaten a Flicker.
Later in the afternoon we came across a single Blue Heron. Off in the distance a Peregrine Falcon sat
quietly at the top of a water tower ladder.

February 11. Mama and Papa spent a good amount of time today working on their nest. The two of them
also enjoyed flying around the central portion of their territory. As we observed our hawk family a Cooper
Hawk made all the pigeons in the area take off for their safety. The Cooper Hawk flew directly overhead
from West to East over the nest and out of sight. Mama and Papa did not seem to mind the intrusion and
they ignored the Cooper Hawk for the few minutes it was around. A short distance further East in the late
afternoon we observed another Cooper Hawk entering a Cedar tree to sleep for the evening.

February 12. Mama and Papa spent a good part of the afternoon flying very high in the sky together. Late
in the afternoon Papa landed on a parkway camera, then flew over to a low tree to hunt for a meal. Both
Mama and Papa joined each other in the early evening on Mama's favorite sleeping spot for the night.
During the afternoon while searching for our hawk family a juvenile Cooper Hawk was resting in a Oak
tree. On our way home a Cooper hawk was settled in for the evening in a pine tree. We are still trying to
figure out this Cooper hawk family structure.

February 15. Searching for our hawk family we watched a juvenile Cooper hawk flying from one tree to
another this afternoon. On the way home both Mama and Papa were soaring together in the central
section of their territory. They eventually landed on a very tall office building, we decided to continue
home to take a break from the cold.

February 16. Mama and Papa spent over an hour together on their favorite sunny branches about fifteen
feet apart from each other. They both flew off within moments of each other chasing pigeons for dinner.
During the time we were watching our hawk family a Peregrine Falcon flew very high overhead hovering
for minutes at a time. It appeared once the Peregrine noticed Mama and Papa it flew off further to the SW
to search for its meal. Later in the day Mama was back on her sunny branch, we did not see Papa
anymore.

February 19. Mama and Papa mated again today at about 3PM.,This was the second observed mating for
the 2007 season. Photography was difficult as there were many small branches in the foreground
obscuring a clear photograph. Some photographs of the event will be published in the Raptor gallery.
After they mated Mama and Papa flew off to be in their own trees, Mama in a pine tree and Papa on his
favorite sunny branch.

February 20. We did not see our hawk family when we searched earlier today. Late in the afternoon Mama
was sitting on top of a tall apartment complex chimney for about 30 minutes. Earlier in the day a Cooper
hawk was flying over the central portion of our hawk families territory searching for meal.

February 21. Mama and Papa spent time near their nest site today. While Mama was adding more nest
materials Papa was busy eating a meal on the chimney of a local apartment complex. Once he finished
eating the two of them spent time together flying and staying near their nest.

February 24. Mama and Papa spent the day tending to their nest and flying around the central portion of
their territory for most of the day. Mama worked on the nest many times throughout the afternoon. Late
this afternoon as the sun set Papa swooped down on an unsuspecting squirrel at the base of an Oak tree
that both he and Mama shared for dinner. Later in the early evening Mama was settled in on her favorite
sleeping spot for the night.

February 28. Mama and Papa spent the day on and around their nest site. Mama and Papa mated once
again today on the roof of an apartment complex at 3PM. Later in the day Papa shared a meal with Mama
as the two sat on top of an apartment buildings chimney.