Date: Sun, 1 Jun 2003 18:44:55 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Frank Powers Subject: C & O Canal Red-shouldered Hawk fledglings MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT There were THREE of them!!! Got to go back to the Red-shouldered Hawk nest just west of the canal between MP 7-8 to check the nest after an absence of some weeks. Saw 1 fledgling on the rim of the nest, and it looked pretty big, but with grayish-white feathering on its head. In the middle of that ghoulish coloring were two black dots for eyes and a yellowish, hooked-beak. The rest of the body looked normal for what is rapidly becoming a juvenile. Streaking on the chest, blotchy back. Just below this fledgeling was another grayish-whitish head barely sticking up above the rim of the nest. After half an hour or so, an adult flew in with some food. It stood on the side of the nest and tore apart whatever it had and fed the birds. That's when I could see there were 3 of them. After the adult left, all three were standing up side-by-side on the rim of the nest. The 3rd fledgling disappeared down in, and the other two remained on the rim. Clearly one of them (probably the first I saw) was much larger than the other two. It engaged in quite a bit of wing-flapping once fed. Won't be long before it is gone. Views were not the greatest, with the wind whipping nearby tree limbs around, with leaves blocking the nest temporarily (but frequently). And I was pretty far away (maybe 150 - 200 yards) across a creek and hidden behind other trees. Still, it was quite a sight! Other birds seen or heard along the Canal (up to Lock 8) included: Black Vulture (1 soaring over the RSHA's nest; 4 others soaring further upriver) Barred Owl (heard calling while watching the RSHA fledglings) Chimney Swift Pileated Woodpecker Acadian Flycatcher Willow Flycatcher Least Flycatcher Eastern Wood Peewee Great Crested Flycatcher Purple Martin Cedar Waxwing (1 pair engaged in mouth-feeding as they perched above the towpath) Yellow-throated Vireo Red-eyed Vireo Northern Parula American Redstart Prothonotary Warbler Scarlet Tanager Baltimore Oriole Probably would have seen or heard more, but there was no rain. I'm not used to these conditions. Good birding, Frank Powers Glen Echo, MD frankpowers@comcast.net ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================