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Last year Dee and I had a lot of fun watching a pair of Red-shouldered Hawks raising two chicks in a nest in a tree on Louetta Road just a few hundred yards from our house. 
The Parents
The Chicks
Knowing that Red-shouldered Hawks re-use their nests, we drove past the tree on Sunday, hoping to see some signs of activity at the still-visible nest. Nothing.
On my way home on Tuesday, I drove past the tree again. No sign of the hawks. I parked nearby and started walking towards the tree. When I was only 10 yards from the car, I happened to glance over to my right. Well, what do you know! One of the hawks was on the ground maybe 15 yards away, giving me a good view of its front.
After scratching around in the grass for a while, it hopped up onto a fence and gave me a look at its profile.
Finally it moved to a low-lying branch, this time letting me see its back.
I'll certainly be popping over to Louetta frequently over the coming weeks to see if the hawks are going to raise another family there. And that reminds me - we need to get over to Baytown some time soon to see if the Bald Eagles are nesting there again this year.
Last Year in Baytown
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3 comments:
Real good photos Jeff. As I recall you mentioned you are near Telge and Spring Cypress, if memory serves correctly. We are just off Eldrege between Grant and Louetta, right near Malcomson. So we're close. I see lots of hawks and Vultures as you do. Plus, since I put up thistle feeders we're being visited by myriad Goldfinches, and many others.
What a surprise seeing that photo of the eagle's nest. I've seen them in Washington state and in Canada, but never in Texas! I do believe i saw a bald eagle a couple years ago in a low tree on the back roads on the way up to Chappel Hill. Quite a sight.
Yes, Paul, we're on Cypress Valley Drive, just off Spring Cypress.
There are usually several Bald Eagles around Houston in the winter. We had one at the college last weekend and I saw one at Warren Lake earlier this month.
I enjoy your photos, Jeff. We had a pair of red shouldered hawks nest and raise chicks directly above our house two years in a row - it's really what got us interested in the bird world. They seem to have moved on to the more wooded area behind our property (near Hobby airport), but we still see them, and other hawks, regularly - in fact I witnessed a pair of hawks actually mating in one of our trees last week. Got a blurry picture of it, felt a little voyeuristic. Perhaps they'll come back to our tree sometime to nest...
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