Tag: Iowa raptors

Red-tailed Hawk in the Rain!

Well, Sena came running in the garage from the back yard covered with dirt! She excitedly told me she found a spot out in the garden to get a good picture of the Red-tail hawk sitting on the nest. It started raining while we were out there, but you can still see the hawk settling into the nest as if there are eggs in it. It’s pretty watchful.

It’s been a while since we’ve caught video of the hawks because from our rear window. That’s mainly because the tree branches had leafed in enough to make it impossible to see them anymore from inside the house.

Sena found a great spot! We might even get to see chicks poking their heads up. Keep your fingers crossed.

Red-tailed Hawk Fixing Nest

This is a follow up video of the Red-tailed hawks nesting in the outlet beyond our back yard. This time it seems to be fixing up the nest. We can’t tell whether they have eggs in it or not. It was pretty windy today, so the view is even more challenging.

Saw What Might Be a Red-tail Hawk in Our Back Yard

We saw some kind of raptor today in our back yard and I couldn’t tell for sure if it was a Red-tail hawk or not. I got the video with an old Canon point-and-shoot through a window at 7:45 in the morning and she sky was overcast. It had a dark spot below its eye, mostly white breast feathers. The back feathers looked mostly brownish. It didn’t look like it had been banded.

It looked like its left foot might have been injured. It looked almost black. It held its left leg up most of the time while perched in a tree, but lowered it so it could scratch its face with the right foot. It’s blurry but you can see its left foot starting at the about 44:15 mark in the video.

I checked a couple of websites with photos of common Iowa raptors, but this bird doesn’t seem to closely resemble any of them.