Red-Tail Nesting

Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • June 7, 2021



As I was working in the MMA gardens over the last week or so, I kept hearing a scream. Now, a Blue Jay makes a scream that sounds like that of a Red-tailed Hawk. So I often look about when I hear it and see if I can find the Blue Jay first. I kept looking but not seeing a Blue Jay and then I started paying better attention to where the scream was coming from. At a corner of the street right near Vestal Street I finally spotted what I was looking for. A beautiful Red-tail perched at the tip of a coniferous tree. The very tip of the tree. 


Since I had heard the call on and off over the last week or so, I assumed that perhaps something was going on. And, whenever I heard the scream, I looked to that tree to find the Red-tail perched at the very top. That’s when I decided there must be a nest. Given the tree branches, I cannot see a nest but the fact that the Red-tail will then fly over to perch on the top of a tall maple within eyesight and earshot of the conifer where the suspected nest is and scream, leads me to believe there is a nest. 


So, I’ll be keeping my eyes up whenever I am out on Vestal – and my ears open. We have had a Red-tail pair the last few years always flying over Vestal so I am hoping this is the same pair and they’ve chosen the nearby tree to have a new brood.


JNLF

P.S. Two days later, I found the nest!

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