Early this morning before the temperature had risen above freezing, the local pair of red-shouldered hawks (Buteo lineatus) had perched together for a few minutes in the backyard, immediately after the female had taken unsuccessful shots at two possible meals, one of them an unidentified bird. We rarely see them together, and so far never as close as this, though we know they’re remaining together – again, not 100% sure they’re a mated pair and not simply siblings, but it seems pretty likely at this point, and we’ll be watching for a nest within the next two months. Due to the size disparity, it is likely the female on the left, and she’s the one that usually hunts in the yard, but as you can see, differentiating them by markings is next to impossible.
As you can also see, once spring comes and the trees leaf out, their visibility is going to become much worse – we’re certainly not going to have this view right out the back door, so I’m happy to take advantage of it now. At the same time, they’re so used to our presence now that they won’t spook unless we get within 10-15 meters, which is a help. Meanwhile, the great blue heron that visits the pond takes off at first sight of us, regardless of the distance, and the mallards are only slightly more tolerant. I’ve seen both species being way more accepting of human presence than this, so perhaps it’s just a matter of conditioning. We’ll see what we can do…