Sunday, June 14, 2009

Up a slippery slope















I enter the park in the 60s and come down "Berry Lane". The juvenile birds know where to find easy treats, but they're usually deep in the bushes. I wish I had an x-ray lens. I wish I could get at the mulberries. I'd eat them too. They're as sweet as cotton candy.
On Friday I had full rain gear and didn't need it. Yesterday I left rain gear at home and needed it, so only spent from 10am till 1pm at nest site. During the first two hours the babies were all in the nest , first napping, them moving around. At 12:48:30 Alpha Baby hopped out to the tree branches. For baby it's much like climbing a slippery slope. The other babies watched with interest. Yes, I know I'm imposing human emotions, but if you look at their eyes you can't help sensing their curiosity at the world. It's a whole different set of skills out of the nest. Managing on that branch, - keeping balance, changing direction, ascending, descending.... Alpha Baby is testing those early skills.
Mama Hawk was close by for the entire time, then flew to an upper branch of the nest tree when the baby left the nest for the branch. The adult hawks are wonderful parents, attentive, caring, gentle.
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