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"We Watched Like Hawks"
by Liza Alldredge.

One June, a few years ago, I went out to turn on the sprinklers in the backyard and was startled to see a young hawk take off from our porch. From the roof of our neighborÕs garage, a second hawk, clearly the mother, watched closely as the youngster flew from the porch to our garden wall. We had seen some hawks in the neighborhood earlier in the year, but now we discovered a family of hawks was nesting in the neighbor's ash tree behind us. And the big Italian stone pine in our front yard becamewhat we called "the nursery." The young ones dined and roosted there during most of the day.

We consulted our bird guides but weren't sure what kind of hawks they were. After observing that their diet was made up entirely of birds, we decided they were Cooper's hawks. Gene Cardiff, curator at the San Bernadino Country Museum, confirmed this when we showed him some pictures we had taken.

There were five youngsters at first. After about a week, one disappeared. The remaining four fascinated and entertained us as they ate and played in our yard. They loved the sprinklers. They would spread their wings into the spray and dip their bellies and bottoms into the puddles. We felt very protective of "our" hawks, and the plaintive calls of the chicks made us worry that they weren't getting enough to eat. We decided to supplement their diet with chicken. We bought drumsticks and wing drumlets which seemed the best size for them to handle.

My husband used a fishing pole to cast a piece onto a branch about twenty feet up. It caught there and was later eaten. Another time, thinking he might nurture their hunting skills, he cast the drumstick out onto the lawn and then slowly reeled it in as the hawks watched. Soon, one flew down and clamped his talon onto the chicken. Unfortunately, the line was pretty strong, and the hawk was unable to pull the drumstick free. My husband reeled in the leg, cut it free, and tossed it onto the lawn. After a few moments, the young hawk came down again and claimed it. We watched as he ate it to the bone. We felt fortunate that the hawks had chosen to nest near us, and we missed them when the young hawks flew off on their own in early August.

On Christmas Day we heard a familiar "kek, kek" and rushed out to the backyard to find that the adult pair had returned. They didn't stay long that day, but what a lovely holiday gift their visit was! We saw them occasionally over the next two months. Then, at the end of February, we knew they had decided to use their old nest again.

One morning we heard them talking for more than an hour in the stone pine. Soon the mating and nest reconstruction began. The male fed the female, mated with her, and brought sticks to repair the nest. This went on through March. When the mating ceased, we guessed that the female had laid her eggs. She came only briefly to the pine tree to eat while the male tended the eggs.

From our research, we learned that the female lays her eggs on the same day each year. Knowing this, and observing the increased frequency of the maleÕs hunting trips, we concluded in late May that the eggs had hatched. A few weeks after the hatching date, we could see the white downy chicks in the nest. With our binoculars we could see the female as she fed the young.

The CooperÕs hawks were a perfect team. The female watched the nest from the telephone pole, buzzed by irritated hummingbirds and mockingbirds. When the afternoon grew hot, she moved to the shade of the stone pine. When the male returned from hunting trips, he would land in the tree and call the female with a "kek." She would come and pluck the unlucky mockingbird, sparrow or pigeon which the male had brought. Then she would take the food to her chicks.

The hawks guarded their nest with good reason. A number of times we saw the male, and sometimes both the male and female, defend the eggs and chicks from marauding crows. More than once we saw the male drive off a gang of forty or fifty crows. He allowed himself to become their target as he led them away from the nest.

Then, on June 18, our neighbor phoned. "There's a baby hawk sitting on the telephone wire!"

"Oh, no!" I cried. "That's impossible! They shouldn't fledge for another week!" I ran out to the yard, and saw a downy chick sitting on the wire. Actually, it seemed to be lying on the wire. Perhaps it fell from the nest as it exercised its wings on the edge of the nest, or maybe it was a precocious chick eager to try its wings. It lay on the wire for a while, then it stood up, spreading and flailing its wings for balance. After a while, it managed to hop onto a nearby Japanese pine. After some shifting around, it found a comfortable spot and sat there quietly for the rest of the afternoon. The mother watched both the chick and the nest from her vantage point on the telephone pole.

As it grew dark, the chick seemed to became uneasy at being outside the nest. It mustered an awkward flight but flew away from the nest, landing in a neighbor's tree. After a few minutes, it flew again, going farther from the nest tree. Soon the mother took off in the same direction. I went looking for them, first on foot and then by car, but I didn't find them. I was certain that was the last I would see of that chick.

The next morning, to my surprise and delight, the early chick was in the nursery tree. It still looked downy, but even one day had made a difference. It was beginning to look more like the smooth-feathered young hawks we had seen the year before.

Today, the mother's vigil was from the nursery tree where she could see both the chick and the nest. I wondered if the mother would feed the chick. The day before, I had not seen her give it any food. Now, I watched as the male brought food to the tree. The female flew over to him, seized the prey and began plucking it. When the chick saw its mother with food, it came hopping and fluttering to the branch where she was busily plucking. The chick begged noisily for food, calling "tsee, tsee, tsee." I was relieved when the mother gave it the food, and I watched as it ate. Then I began to worry that the mother, preoccupied with the adventurous chick, would forget to feed the chicks in the nest! I needn't have worried. The parents kept them all fed.

Six days passed before the next chick ventured out of the nest. The next day a third chick joined these two, and then the fourth. The young hawks were magnificent flyers. They chased each other and played with bits of bark. They frolicked in the sprinklers and ate and rested in the pine tree. We still fussed over our chicks. When they dropped food into the ivy, we retrieved it and put it where they could find it.

One morning at 6:15, the hawks woke us with a loud Òkek, kek, kek.Ó I looked out our bedroom window to see a very large bird on the lawn. The young hawks were protesting the presence of this large avian intruder. We could not believe our eyes. It was a peacock! I rushed out the front door, and the peacock strolled up the driveway to meet me. It was quite tame and seemed to be looking for a handout. I guess word had gotten around.

On July 19, one of the young hawks crashed into our window. We put it in a box and rushed it to a veterinarian, but it was too late. We continued to enjoy the other three.

The last one flew away on July 31.

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Pomona Valley Audubon Society
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