![]() Since then Otto and SU-Sue have been a monogamous, devoted pair. We will never know, but all three worked together and SUNY stayed in the area near Otto and SU-Sue for another year before we lost track of her, hopefully to find a mate. We have no photographic record of mating behavior with SUNY so we don’t know if another male was involved or all six are the progeny of our male, Otto.Īn area hawk expert suggested that SUNY may have been an offspring of SU-Sue and Otto and her male partner died so she returned “home” to lay her eggs and raise her chicks with her parents help. While there is no way to know for sure, the most likely scenario would have been that each female laid three eggs in the same nest, as it would be highly unusual for one female to produce six eggs. But our trio certainly seemed to be “cooperating” well. This unique trio successfully raised six chicks in one nest. Red-tailed hawks are not known to cooperatively nest like other species of hawks, i.e. ![]() Normally red-tailed hawks mate for life and are monogamous, however, we had an uncommon situation in 2016 when the nest was tended by three adult red-tails, Otto, SU-Sue and a second female named SUNY (pronounced Soo-Nee). Red-tailed hawks can live 20 years or more in the wild. We don’t know for sure how old each of our SU hawks is, but based upon the fact that they may have had a nest on Link Hall in 2011, Otto and SU-Sue could be at least 11 years old. It is thought that Red-tails do not breed until their third year of life but in 2018, a one year old adult male successfully bred three chicks at Cornell University. ![]() Female red-tailed hawks are usually up to 25 % larger than males but Sue is only slightly larger than Otto. All of Sue’s tail feathers have dark subterminal bands, whereas Otto’s middle feather has a dotted subterminal band and his outer feather bands are dark like Sue’s. Otto’s chest feathers have cinnamon colored streaks as compared to her pristine white chest. This season, Otto’s head feathers are lighter than Sue’s and he has a larger patch of white feathers above his beak than Sue. Each year, they molt into different patterns from the year before so it is interesting to see what each new molt will bring. The feather color patterns of the male Otto and female, SU-Sue are quite similar and it can be difficult to tell them apart. Molting usually starts in the early summer and lasts until fall. This occurs in a process called molting when new feathers form to replace the old ones. Juvenile red-tailed hawks have brown to cinnamon barred patterns on their tails until their red feathers form. Their characteristic brick red-tail develops in their second year of life giving the species its name. ![]() Red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) color patterns are highly variable but their basic appearance is consistent with a light chest and brown to cinnamon-colored bellyband across their mid-line. Their breeding and hunting territory covers over one square mile and includes Syracuse University (SU), adjacent SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF), nearby Oakwood and Morningside cemeteries and Thornden Park as well as the neighborhoods close to SU. Syracuse University located in Central New York is the home to a devoted red-tailed hawk pair, Otto and SU-Sue who’ve been nesting on SU’s Lyman Hall since 2012. This Red-tailed Hawk Nest Cam was donated to Syracuse University by Anne Marie Higgins in memory of her late husband, Thomas W. SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY RED-TAILED HAWK NEST CAM
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |