A Hooded Merganser, a specialized fish-eating duck, plies the edge of persisting lake ice. A Swainson’s Hawk taking flight on Easter 2017. This impressive individual was identifiable from others in the area by its rufous belly.

I had given up on witnessing any return from my favorite Ferruginous Hawk pair. With the pair of Great Horned Owls taking over the nest that the rare hawks used successfully the past two nesting seasons, I figured if the Ferrugs returned, they would assess the situation and move on, so if I wasn’t there at the exact time of their return, I’d miss them. At the same time, there would be the chance that upon their return, the prairie hawks would opt to build a new nest, possibly near their former nest site, possibly still utilizing their territory for hunting ground squirrels and pocket gophers.

Of course, if that would happen, they would need to share the territory with the big owls, which might work considering that the owls are probably concentrating on hunting meadow voles and cottontails. But barring head-on territorial fights, which the big owls would dominate after dark, it could happen.

I bring this up with the exciting news that last Tuesday evening, when I least expected it, there was the male Ferruginous Hawk, hovering in the wind, hunting, just 100 yards northeast of the incubating female Great Horned Owl and just 50 yards east of the male owl’s favorite perch amid a tangle of willows. The hawk eventually repositioned a short distance to the northwest, hovered a few moments, then vanished from view.

As a reminder, I don’t see other Ferruginous Hawks in a very extended area, and I don’t know of any other nests within a 200 square mile raptor nesting study area I monitor south of my office – so seeing a Ferrug so close to the only place I ever have seen a pair nest in the area in recent years, strongly suggests this is the “resident” male Ferruginous Hawk. How exciting!

Now, I’m hoping there is a lot more to report to you about this on-going theater, soon.

Last Thursday, I walked into the face of yet another white-out blizzard outside my living room bay windows, to collect and fill my bird feeders that attracted a dozen interesting species. I was surprised when a Downy Woodpecker screamed in my ear as I looked up to see a Merlin flapping with tail flared just two feet above my head with a small bird in its talons! It flew low southward into the blizzard, just four feet above the new snow, and ducked behind a bush 250 feet away.

I wanted to grab my binoculars and get closer to see what the dark-colored female Merlin caught, but It Was Blizzarding! I looked to my left and the little woodpecker was perched just two feet away at eye level, perhaps using me as muscle in case there were other predators nearby. I don’t know where the Merlin actually caught the small bird; was it passing by after catching the bird, or did it grab its prey adjacent to my feeding station? I believe the former, but even though I don’t want raptors to harm my feeder visitors, it’s the cycle of life, in my yard.

Friday afternoon as I parked in front of my house, I was surprised to see the flash of a larger than expected bird from the ground at my feeding station, along with a couple juncos. The flash was clearly a big adult Sharp-shinned Hawk that perched just 10 feet from my feeders in a bare elm tree. I watched from my car to see what might transpire, and enjoyed my best look at a Sharpie in a long time with my binoculars. This beautiful example of a raptor was definitely hunting my feeding station, her red eyes piercing the view in each direction as she dared a bird to rustle. It was clear there were no other birds in the area – or at least none were moving. Even though she was not obvious at her perch, it was clear all birds in the area were aware of her, or had already vacated the area. After about 15 minutes she simply flew low to the northeast, behind my house so I couldn’t see her exit.

The Sharp-shinned Hawk was a first at my feeders, as were a couple Savanah Sparrows that fed on the ground earlier in the day. Later, a flock of blackbirds out my windows included some prominent male Yellow-headed Blackbirds; the first of the year, and the first I can remember from my yard. In the field, new species included scattered pairs of Hooded Mergansers, and I spotted a few Redheads among a couple flocks of diving ducks.

I should mention that I’ve seen four more dark morph Harlan’s Red-tailed Hawks this week – two to the north Monday, one to the south on Friday, and one 10 miles south Saturday. They should be on their way to Alaska or the Yukon. At the same time, the first Swainson’s Hawks will soon return from Argentina – usually about April 20, although two years ago a memorable Swainson’s Hawk provided photo ops on April 16th – Easter. Enjoy a wonderful Easter weekend.

Article and photos by Paul Konrad

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