Everybody is excited for the 2020 breeding season of the famous Cornell University campus hawks Big Red and her new mate Arthur.
Unfortunately Big Red’s partner Ezra reportedly has died.
Last year Big Red laid her first egg at about 11:38 ET on March 28th. The breeding season 2015 started with a surprise. Big Red and Ezra moved to their nest to the light pole they used in 2012. There were no longer cameras installed at this nest so some heavy equipment was organized to get up to the nest. Of course, main priority was always not to the disturb the birds and have the minimal impact on them as possible. Cornell team worked fast in this sensitive effort. Weather, logistics, and the hawk pair cooperated and new cameras were installed finally.
Last year the pair returned to nest on Feb 1st. In 2014 we saw a new activity: A male banded on the left leg visited the nest during the “nestoration” activity in Feb 25th. Was there going to be a male rivalry? We all held our breath… The video below is the recording of the third male visiting while Ezra is on the nest:
Big Red laid her third egg on March 25th. Here’s that happy moment captured by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology:
Last year, the pair has decided to move their nest so the camera was temporarily off-line making adjustments. Unfortunately for this reason, the moment of the first egg being laid on March 14th was not broadcasted live.
2012 has been a wonderful 11 week watching Ezra and Big Red raising their chicks. Following video gives a summary of the 2012 season.
A pair of red-tailed hawk has been nesting in Cornell University campus for at least the past four years. In 2012, the Bird Lab of Cornell University installed a camera to better understand these birds sharing the same campus space with humans. The birds have been seen with prey such as voles, squirrels, and pigeons in the nest.
On March 19, 2012 Big Red laid her second egg. She laid her third egg on March 22. Incubation time ranges between 28-35 days. Red-tails stay together until one of them dies, then the survivor gets a new mate. This is what happened last year to another pair in NY city.
The female named “Big Red” is much browner in the head and was banded in Brooktondale, New York, during her first autumn in 2003. She is almost nine years old and is banded on the right leg. The male who was dubbed Ezra by viewers has more pronounced white streaking around the entire eye. He is at least 7 years old and was banded in 2006. You can learn more from the Bird Lab of Cornell University.
For those who have missed the most recent happy moment can watch this 10 minute video of Big Red laying her third egg.
43 Comments
Big Red is such a good mommie. But that’s not a very feminine name. Sounds like a redneck.
Too bad some human mommies aren’t as good as she is. Seems that animals take better care
of their offspring than a lot of humans.
Generalizations are misleading Sues not all animals take better care of their young than humans – there are many other species that kill or eat their young….a lioness may have her cubs destroyed if the pride’s males are replaced; Bottlenose dolphins have been reported to kill their young through impact injuries; infanticide is widespread in Black-tailed prairie dogs. There are lots more examples that you can google. The big difference is our so-called superior intellect in that we can make a CHOICE whereas animals are following the call of the wild.
Sues, Big Red is not alone. Ezra (the daddy) is also contributing in parental care. They take turns.
Yumurtalar çatlamaya başladı,yavruların ilki kanımca bugün yumurtadan çıkacak.
henuz bu yuvada hareket yok. Cornell Universite kampusu NY’a gore daha iceride (denizden uzak) ve kuzeyde (soguk). heyecanla bekliyoruz! 🙂
Çok güzel, çok teşekkürler canlı yayın için…
Bu Şahin kamerayı farkediyor galiba,biraz huysuz gibi bugün,sürekli kameraya bakıyor.
Evet, şahin sürekli olarak arkasını kontrol ediyor. Yavrularını koruma iç güdüsü…
Dediklerine gore kameranin merceginde kendi yansimasini goruyormus. Oyle olunca yabanci bir sahin mi var diye kontrol ediyor olabilirmis.
Uzay bey, bilgilendirme için çok teşekkürler,sonuçta Şahin çok keskin görme yetenekleri var.
I was just curious, where exactly has Big Red set her nest? I can hear buses and people in the backdrop very clearly.
They have been nesting on a light pole 80 feet above Cornell University’s athletic fields on Tower Road for the past four years. Yes you are right. Sounds you hear are human generated.
Cornell Ünversitesi kamera bağlantısı sorunu yaşıyorum,bağlantı sayısı 3000 lerde olması bağlantı sorunu olabilir mi acaba,maalesef bu gidişle yavruların çıkışını izleyemeceğim 🙁
This live video is very entertaining. What is the average amount of eggs the Red-Tailed Hawk lays per season?
Brenna, Red-tailed Hawks lay 1-3 eggs depending on the availability of food source. You can find more info in
Would you say this red-tailed hawk has a great food source depending on the amount of offspring?
This pair have been nesting there for more than 4 years now. They defend a territory and know where to find prey. They are experienced compared to the other pair in NY city who just paired up this year and two chicks. How do they do birth control? We have to ask ornithologists 😉
it lays 15
Taylor, do you mean it lays 15 eggs in their entire life span?
How is the population of the red-tailed hawk in the Cornell University area?
Yavrular çok sağlıklı görünüyor,annesi sürekli beslemeye çalışıyor ama,minikler çabuk doyuyor.:)
How old are the babies now?
Eggs hatched between 21-24th April.
Where did the third baby go?
Bob, All babies (D1, D2 and D3) sucessfully fledged and flew from the nest! Yippie yay! http://cams.allaboutbirds.org/channel/16/Red-tailed_Hawks/
Which bird is banded on the left leg, I just saw it dining on a mouse?
We can’t wait for the egg laying, and all the fun watching the babies hatch!
Ezra (male) is banded on the left leg. Oh yes! Soon we will be seeing a lot of action in the nest. Season 2014 has just started!
How many eggs are Big Red /Ezra sitting on. We’ve only seen one.
There are 3 eggs. Big Red laid her 3rd egg on March 25th.
I see three eggs have been laid, I was wondering how long before the eggs hatch?
Incubation time ranges between 28-35 days. Want to guess when the first egg will start pipping?
I’ll go with 4/20, just for fun on first egg pipping.
So I guess I was off by a week , but nice to see the first two
It happened right after midnight!
So Larry and Curly popped out what’s the hold up with Moe?
Moe (wait are these really the names?) was pipping all day today. There were some nice close up camera action while they were playing with fuzzy heads.
I think the names are better than last years D 1,2 & 3. I think it gives them more character! They act like the Stooges
Beating each other . Lol
When did E-1 fledge?
I missed that one too. When did E-1 fledge nobody talks about it. E3 just had an accident…
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