A few hours after posting the above, I was out in Catch the Wind and observed a pair of Red-tailed Hawks performing their aerial courtship flight. I didn’t get the whole sequence of events on film (digital), and the birds were way up there requiring a bit of enlargement, but hopefully you’ll get the gist of what the birds are doing.

One bird (on right) comes in from above the other bird, which is slowly gliding into the wind

The upper bird lowers its talons and drops in closer.

It's just about at this point where the lower bird inverts itself with talons raised, the two locking talons and tumbling through the air.

The next image should show the birds tumbling through the air, but unfortunately the birds went behind a group of tall pines and we’ll have to wait till next time for that one. Sorry.

Later the same day, down on the ground, a group of some fifty American Robins were feasting on worms and other invertebrates.

Some of the robins that have stopped in to rest and feed on their journeys north.

A closer view of one of these very familiar, handsome thrushes.

Although our avian visitors were eating invertebrates at the time, American Robins relish berries and other small fruit. Northern Mockingbirds (NOMOs), who also like fruit, and who stake out and protect winter territories where their food source is plentiful, get rather anxious when a group of fruit eating birds settles in nearby.

This Northern Mockingbird appears a bit bothered by all of the robins that decided to stop and feed in its territory next to the Ornithopter.

See you outside!

The Red-shouldered Hawk is present year-round and is the most common hawk species seen at the Museum, often hunting from a perch somewhere in the Wetlands or up in the swamp between Catch the Wind and Explore the Wild on the back side of the trail that winds through those areas. In winter, due in part to the lack of leaves on the trees, the hawk is a bit more obvious as it sits silently (most of the time these hawks are quite boisterous) in one of the Wetland’s Willows ready to pounce on any frog, small rodent, or bird that happens to make a false move.

Red-shouldered Hawk silently perched six feet above the waters of the Wetlands.

While I stood and watched the perched hawk (no more than 20 feet or so beyond the path) hoping to see it in action, a Red-tailed Hawk called loudly and persistently from above. Red-taileds are another hawk regularly seen during winter. Red-tails are larger that red-shouldereds. They are also typically much less vocal, and I thought it odd that this one was sounding off so with such gusto.

Red-tailed Hawk soaring above the Wetlands.

Apparently, the Red-shouldered Hawk thought the other hawk’s enthusiasm was odd as well as it seemed distracted by the Red-tailed Hawk, peering up at it as it circled above.

Red-shouldered Hawk hawking a very exciting Red-tailed Hawk circling above.

I never discovered why the Red-tailed Hawk was so excited, but I saw it (I assume it was the same bird) later that day circling above the Wetlands with another Red-tailed Hawk. It was a rather spring-like day and perhaps the hawk’s display was a premature (by a couple of months) attempt at courtship.

The Hooded Mergansers arrived on the scene the first week in November. Their numbers fluctuate between two and about a dozen, although I’ve seen as many as 15 in the Wetlands.

Hooded Mergansers taking up their old familiar resting and preening spot in the Wetlands.

When these ducks arrive they begin to form pair-bonds and can put on quite a show in their courtship displays. The males (from two to as many as six or more) follow the female around the water, strutting, pumping and chasing around, at the same time uttering a rolling, croaking sound as they vie for the female’s attention.

Four male Hooded Mergansers surround a lone female (dark object in center) as they vie for her attention.

Males strut their stuff while the female swims by.

The birds give a low-pitched croak-like call as they literally bend over backwards in an attempt to persuade the object of their attention, the female, that they are worthy.

The birds don’t actually mate at this time, but simply form the bonds that will hold them together until the breeding season arrives. The Copulatory Display (and actual mating), will probably take place in February or March just before these birds head back north, and is quite another show entirely. Oddly, considering the effort put into the pair-bonding, the male departs the nesting area after incubation begins, leaving the parenting duties to the female.