bye bye birdie

 
It won't be long now.  At least one of the twins is about ready to take off. 

another from yesterday

This picture is a little grainy but still interesting.  The twins are about the same height as their parent to the left but the parent's body and chest are much fuller than the babies.  Feathers?  Muscles?   I left for work a little later than usual this morning (the sun was actually up) and I saw the twins jumping up and down and flapping.  Within the next week they should begin taking their first flights. 

today

the white baby feathers are gone

Rise and shine

It feels good to stretch in the warm sun.

Today we were practicing flapping our wings.

One of these days it will be time to take flight. 

We've got about another 3 weeks before the parents tell us to get out.

 

it never gets old

wildflowers covering the hillside

feeding the chicks

 

Today the two baby chicks are 6 days old.  They are getting stronger everyday.  Mom was tearing up some bits of meat and feeding them.  They were eager to eat. 

The chicks have hatched

Today the chicks arrived.  I see two white fuzzy chicks right now, could there be three?
Here are the birth-dates over the past few years, those Red Tail Hawks are very consistent:

2009:  April 1
2010:  April 9
2011:  Unknown
2012:  April 9
2013:  No chicks this year
2014:  April 8

They usually leave the nest the third week of May, we'll see what happens.  Many more pictures to come!

nice day to snap a few pics