Love is in the Air
On a cool, sunny February day my drowsy nap was interrupted by a piercing scream from beyond our picture window. I was recuperating from a coworker shared case of the flu and had settled into the recliner in front of the picture window. The warm sunshine and quiet of the house was just what the doctor or actually Ann ordered.
I looked out to find the source of the screams and found two Red-tailed Hawks circling about 200 feet above the wetlands behind our house. The circling and calling continued until one bird suddenly flew at the other, as if to attack, and at the last moment pulled up sharply and flew around to circle again. The hawk repeated this several times while the other bird continued to circle. But on the next “attack”, the circling bird flipped over on its back and extended its talons. The diving bird grasped the talons and both birds hung there swaying back and forth like a pendulum. With their screams continuing, they slowly descended toward the ground and at the last instant they broke apart and flew off to a large cottonwood and…..
Spring was in the air and I had just witnessed the courtship dance of the Red-tails. Many of the hawks and eagles have a similar mating ritual. So, pull the earbuds out and listen; with the large population of Red-tails in northeast Indiana, it should not be hard to miss a courting couple. In fact, last week at Franke Park, there was a pair of Red-tails doing their aerial hanky panky. The eagles at Cedarville, Arrowhead Marsh and Eagle Marsh should be courting now.
Meanwhile, each evening after “Wheel of Fortune”, Ann goes out to refill all the birdfeeders for the next day. From the wetlands behind our house, or maybe even closer, she now regularly hears the sound of dueting Barred Owls, “Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you all?” The phrases are repeated but at different pitches as the baritone female and tenor male sound off. It seems early this year but with the warm winter thus far it may be that the prey base might arrive early and be plentiful and the owls want to be ready. The calls will continue until the eggs start to hatch and then silence will be the rule. The calls will commence again once the young have branched out.
The hooting courtship for the Great-horned Owls finished in January while the little Screech Owls won’t “get it on” until late March when their soft back and forth warbling will echo through the woods. The Cooper’s Hawks’ high, slow-flapping mutual circling will start around here in early April.
Our most spectacular courtship performers are the Red-shouldered Hawks. In late April, the pair makes mutual undulating high circling flights, accompanied by loud calling. Then in an awesome sky-dance, the male soars up and then steeply plunges with half closed wings before checking and then spiraling up to repeat this process over and over again. Whoopee!!!!
