Welcome to the Swainson's Hawk Watch

May 15, 2015 - A pair of Swainson's Hawks have been mating and building a new nest in a different neighborhood tree. I will try to start adding a few new 2015 photos of this pair as the summer progresses. (Scroll down on this page to see the 2015 blog posts in chronological order.)

July 3, 2015 - Sadly, the 3 chicks have fallen out of the nest and perished. This blog chronicles activities around the nest until this tragic event, with the July 3 post below the first you will read.

Note! These and additional photos (total = 154) are viewable in this Swainson's Hawks blog 2015 Picasa Web album.

Archive, May 2014 two Swainson's Hawks have been mating in a tree about a block from the old 2010 -2011 nest site. I have not seen them in a nest yet but have seen them mate three times in the same tree over a two day period.

Whenever possible I will try to post photos on this blog again this year, especially if we can identify the nest site where we can see the chicks growing and fledgling. Note! See the first photos below on the May 5, 2014 blog post below.

Archive 2010 & 2011.
In April of 2010, a pair of wild Swainson's Hawks decided to nest in our neighborhood in Boise, Idaho. This "Hawk Watch" will attempt to record words and photographs describing the Hawks behaviors, including the hatching & fledgling of chicks over the spring and summer. Many others who live in the neighborhood also watched the daily activities of the hawks and used this blog to keep up on my own observations and photographs.

Note! May 6, 2011 Two Red-tailed Hawks have settled on the old nest and appear to be laying on eggs now. See blog posts below. Here is a link to 56 Red-tailed hawk photographs from 2011 I uploaded to my Picasa Web Album.

Note! On March 12, 2011 two neighbors reported seeing a single hawk flying around and landing on the nest. Hopefully they will nest here again or nearby and we can continue the blog through 2011.
Note! Please Try to "Follow" the Blog and check in often. I am trying to update this site and the photo album at least once or twice a week. This page scrolls down to the blog entries below this introduction. The first blog entry you will see is the latest one. Scrolling the page down will reveal earlier posts in descending chronological order. And/or you can use the Blog Archive on the right side of the screen to see entries for May, through October 2010 and newer ones for 2011.
Please feel free to share this Blog with your family and friends. The URL you can email to them is:
http://swainsonshawkwatch.blogspot.com

Note ! I am posting "all" of the hawk images to an album in my Picasa Web account. Below is the web URL for that album. You can click on that hot link and/or also click on the Hawk lifting off branch photo to go to that album. As of October 3, there are 600 individual images in the album.

Note! When looking at a single photo in the album use the "full screen" icon for a larger, more impressive size!

Hawk lifting off branch

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Mother Hawk goes out for more nest leaves

This morning I walked past the nest two times and the second time the Mother hawk was in the often used roost tree closer to the road than the nest.  I waited because I know she won't stay away from the nest for any length of time.  Finally she flew off toward the hay field where the adults hunt and in a few minutes she returned with another tree branch with a bunch of leaves for the nest.  This time she carried the branch in her talons.  Yesterday she carried the branch with leaves in her beak.





Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Female Hawk gathers more leaves

This morning as I walked past the nest the female hawk was out of the nest and standing on a nearby tree limb.  I watched as she flew away toward the hunting field and soon she returned to the nest with a branch containing a bunch of leaves, possibly to provide shade or comfort for the 3 chicks in the nest.






Monday, June 22, 2015

Female Hawk brings new leaves to the nest

The nest is high in a tree with some leaves at the level of the nest.  The chicks are hard to see unless they poke their heads up.  In the last post I noted that I had seen 2 heads at the same time and a few days ago with binoculars I finally saw 3 heads together as the female hawk fed them.  I will try to get photos of all three together soon.

Meanwhile, the other day  as I walked past the nest  I could not see an adult in the nest.  It was mid day and quite warm.  I waited for a few minutes and one adult flew towards the nest with a beak full of green leaves.  My thought is that the adult is trying to bring more shade or at least a softer bed for the chicks.  In a few minutes the male hawk flew in with a meal for the chicks.







Friday, June 19, 2015

Two Swainson's Hawk Chicks are now visible in the nest

From my last post on May 15,  I have seen and photographed the adults in the air, in various trees and in the nest.  In general it has been pretty quiet for several weeks.  I could see the female hawk sitting on the nest and knew she must be laying on eggs.  Finally two days ago I was able to see one white head poking up and then a second one.  The female flew away and left them alone in the nest for a few minutes and then came back.  The male flew in and apparently left a meal as the female started to feed the chicks.  I am shooting from some distance with a telephoto lens through branches and it is hard to get a very sharp focus, but here are a few of the first Swainson's Hawk chick photos from our neighborhood nest in 2015.