Today at Hop Brook Lake in Naugatuck, a consistent nesting place for
Cooper's Hawks, two adults had begun the early stage of courtship. A
couple of single resonant clucking notes caught my attention, and after
thinking about it for a moment I realized Cooper's were in the woods near a
large turf field. I slowly walked in their direction when what I assumed
was the male flew across the opening displaying its flared under tail
coverts and moving with very slow stylized wingbeats. When in full display
this can be an extended bout of circling and agitated calling, but in this
case the displaying bird went straight across and disappeared in the trees.
Then the female (based on large size), assumed an exposed perch in a tall
deciduous tree and continued calling, while the presumed male called less
frequently from the opposite side of the field.
Greg Hanisek
Waterbury
Reading Greg's note this morning about courting Coops reminded me that in
yesterday's warm temps the Red-winged Blackbirds that have been frequenting
our feeder this winter were all in full song. Even though we are still in
the first half of February things are moving in the avian world. A couple
of days ago I was speaking with a friend who moved to Florida (many or you
will remember Jayne, a superb CT rehabber) and she now has returning Purple
Martins back in her martin houses down there. The reality is many migratory
birds are on the move already and many more will be very shortly. Some
species, such as Veery, may not really ever stop moving except for very
brief periods... and nesting of course.
Warm spells such as the current one we are experiencing, combined with the
increasing length of daylight, can suddenly shake up our bird landscape.
Migration is triggered more by increasing hours of daylight than by rising
temperatures but a sudden warm spell can spur wintering birds to change
addresses. So we should not now expect what we have been finding in the
field to necessarily be the same. Yes in late February there is a period
when it seems like birds are leaving and no new one are arriving, however
this is a sign that things are moving not just away from us but also
towards us. Soon Woodcock will seemingly be "peenting" everywhere, rafts of
ducks such as Goldeneyes will have all the drakes tossing their heads back
trying to impress the girls, Phoebes will appear out of nowhere setting up
shop, and many more raptors such as Red-shoulders will be courting. Indeed,
a few years ago around this time I was fortunate enough to find courting
American Goshawks in North Stonington. Yes, it's February in New England
and the landscape is still mainly just shades of gray and brown, but
migration has begun and the birds are coming. I'm ready for them and I'm
sure so are you.
Dave
Dave Provencher
Preston
On Fri, Feb 9, 2024, 5:57 PM Gregory Hanisek via CTBirds <
ctbirds@lists.ctbirding.org> wrote:
Today at Hop Brook Lake in Naugatuck, a consistent nesting place for
Cooper's Hawks, two adults had begun the early stage of courtship. A
couple of single resonant clucking notes caught my attention, and after
thinking about it for a moment I realized Cooper's were in the woods near a
large turf field. I slowly walked in their direction when what I assumed
was the male flew across the opening displaying its flared under tail
coverts and moving with very slow stylized wingbeats. When in full display
this can be an extended bout of circling and agitated calling, but in this
case the displaying bird went straight across and disappeared in the trees.
Then the female (based on large size), assumed an exposed perch in a tall
deciduous tree and continued calling, while the presumed male called less
frequently from the opposite side of the field.
Greg Hanisek
Waterbury
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