Old Trail; Crozet, VA 2/19/18

All photos are © Marshall Faintich

It was overcast today, but I wanted to try out some camera settings, so I went over to the wetlands area here in Old Trail. I started taking shots of sparrows and other common species.

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White-crowned Sparrow

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Field Sparrows

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White-throated Sparrow

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Song Sparrow

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House Sparrow

All of a sudden, I heard one of our two resident Red-shouldered Hawks screaming. These two hawks are usually quite calm, and must certainly be used to people now. They usually let me get fairly close for photos. But this hawk was about 800 feet away, and on the other side of the wetlands area. I watched it fly into a tree, and when I got my camera on it, could see that it was at a nest, and wasn't very happy.

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Red-shouldered Hawk

I am not sure if this is their nest, but it could be, although it looks at bit small for a hawks nest. I also think that it is about a month early for hawk eggs to be in the nest, so I don't know why this hawk was so upset. About a minute later, it flew in my direction, landed in a nearby tree, and continued calling for its mate.

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Red-shouldered Hawk

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Red-shouldered Hawk

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Red-shouldered Hawk

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Red-shouldered Hawk

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Red-shouldered Hawk

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Red-shouldered Hawk

I could hear its mate calling from far away, and saw a very distant Red-shouldered Hawk, about a mile away, being mobbed by crows as it flew trying to avoid them. The hawk near to me then took off, flew in the direction of its mate, but stayed a good distance away in another tree.

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Red-shouldered Hawk

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Red-shouldered Hawk

It's possible that the distant hawk was a third Red-shouldered Hawk, and all the screaming was about an interloper in their territory. I hiked in the direction of the distant hawk, and soon saw about 15 crows perched in two trees. They were making quite a racket. On the roof of a nearby house, the other resident Red-shouldered Hawk sat, not seeming to mind that there were crows in the vicinity.

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Red-shouldered Hawk

The first hawk then flew back to the far side of the wetlands area, and perched high up in a tree. I'll have to keep checking that nest for little ones in another month or so.


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