Hawks and chickens

During the day, at work, I occasionally pull up the Raptor Cam and check out a Red Tailed Hawk nest in downtown Portland. This year a pair of Red Tails laid three eggs and they all hatched. While the little ones were still all fuzzy we lost one. The other two have grown and continue to develop well. At the moment they are busy flapping around the nest and hopping onto the railing and window ledge. It won’t be long until they take up flying. I can’t wait to see that!

If you’re interested in seeing them you can go to: http://www.kgw.com/community/blogs/raptor-cam/KGW-Audubon-Raptor-Cam.html

At this same site there are also some photos of the Peregrine Falcons that nest on the bridge.

I guess this is my year to be fascinated by birds. I go home every evening and let my chickens out to roam the back yard. I love watching them. I also love that as soon as they see me coming out the back door they all run to the end of their enclosure. It’s great to see six little faces all so happy to see me.

I’ve been giving them new and different things to eat: bread, grapes, strawberries, and peanut butter on bread. The last is by far their favorite! They like them all, but something about the peanut butter really get them excited. Wel,l that and the flowers in my containers along the edge of the patio. I keep a spray bottle handy, full of water to shot them with when they start wrecking havoc. I think they are beginning to learn not to mess with the containers, but at the same time they still need regular reminders in a liquid form.

The other day Sugar, who does everything first, started clucking. I mean really clucking, not just a screech as they have all been doing from time to time. The whole gang was all clustered up at the edge of the garden pecking away at grass and leaves, when she began to cluck. Cluuuuck, cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck……Cluuuuck, cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck …..Cluuuuck, cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck. She looked quite distressed, like she couldn’t figure out what was happening. She wasn’t the only one. All of the other girls ran across the yard, next to the run, huddled together and stared at her. They kept their distance for awhile after she had gotten over her little spell. None of them are quite sure what happened but they don’t seem to be looking forward to a repeat.

They are all taking their turns at flying. This usually happens when they have been spooked by something. This could be such terrifying things as a gust of wind, a falling leaf, a butterfly, or nothing at all. All the squawking starts, the running, the wing flapping, and then at least two or three will lift off. At first the landings were a bit rough, but they seem to have gotten the hang of it now.

People keep telling they will fly up into trees if I don’t clip their wings. I don’t have any trees in my yard, and they all seem determined to get back to the run as quick as possible when they get spooked, so I’ve decided not to worry about that. At least not until one of them actually flies up onto a limb of a neighbor’s tree. Then I will be faced with how to get them down. What fun!!