CORNELL HAWK CAM

Red-tailed Hawk eyass, one day old

I have been watching the Cornell University Hawk Cam as the little hawks are hatched and grow (the nestling is called an "eyas").  These are a pair of hawks that Cornell has been watching in the nest for several years.  The female is called Big Red and the male is Ezra and yes, you can learn to tell them apart!!!  They had three eggs this year and two have hatched, the first on Monday night and the second early Tuesday morning (I started watching at just the right moment and got to see the second one hatch!!!). 
The black blob in the upper right corner is a starling that is about to be their lunch.  The above photo shows the two eyass at one day old, with the unhatched egg. 
These are iPhone screen shots of the Cornell hawk cam images. Click on the images for a larger pix.

The eyass are now two days old and much stronger and larger than yesterday!
The egg has pipped (the bird inside has started making a hole in it and will hatch soon)

RTH eyass, two days old with mom

 Here they are today, two days old, with mom (Big Red).  Mom has a snake she is feeding them.

To see the hawk cam, click this link:

http://cams.allaboutbirds.org/channel/16/Red-tailed_Hawks/?utm_source=Cornell+Lab+eNews&utm_campaign=562fb46458-Bird+Cams+eNews-FallVisitors-10.19.2012&utm_medium=email
Before you start chatting on the chat line, be sure to read the section called, "Hawk Nest FAQ" (just below the video window) and the Chat Guidelines.  In the FAQ section, you can find out how to tell the adults apart, and learn a lot about the hawk pair, their offspring, the project and the cam.

I found I could spend a lot of time watching and although semi-retired, I don't have that much time, so I click on the 2nd cam view button, which gives a small window, and I put that window in the upper corner of the desktop.  Out of the corner of my eye, I can see if anything exciting happens.

There are other cams, as well.  I've been glancing at the Osprey cam occasionally (they had one egg as of yesterday) and the Great Blue Herons, who have four eggs.  The action is at the Hawk cam at the moment, though!!  

For more info on the hawks (and all birds!), go to Cornell's free site, 
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/red-tailed_hawk/id
 
Cornell Lab of Ornithology is one of the major places for bird study and they also have a more scholarly site, with deeper info, but that costs to join - Birds of North America
http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/

I want to leave you with one last picture of the eyass.  Apparently they play fight and it helps them get stronger.  This is yesterday.  The one on the right is "attacking" the other.

Day old RTH eyass play fighting

Check it out!