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Play, download and edit the free video Recently fledged Red-tailed Hawk honing skills and learning from Mama!.

Adventures with a recently fledged Red-tailed Hawk and her parent! This was one of my favorite experiences in the wild.

When I first entered this park I could not locate the hawk family. I was sitting down on a bench messaging someone that the hawk family was gone, when I heard the unmistakable "baby cry." I followed the loud calls and saw a raucous in the trees. The adult hawk crashed into a robin's nest and quickly left. Her baby quickly imitated her, and also crashed into the nest. She sat bewildered and didnt know what to do. The nest may have been empty and the both of us were left confused. (I put a photo of this moment at the end of the video).

Her mother then leads her to a giant puddle. The adult picked up a twig and flew up with it to a tree. This exercise is the precursor of bringing prey up to tree. Mama wanted baby to follow, but she was having too good of a time in the puddle. She was curious about everyone, and everything in the park.

At the 1:14 mark, Mama whizzes by as if to say "time to get out of the pool, we have raptoring lessons to do." Baby still does not listen. Once in a while she remembered that she was hungry, and would start her begging cries, but then go right back to playing. When she runs and cries at the same time she reminds me of a toddler who doesnt know what they want.

Distracted again by sticks and twigs, she attacks them and picks them up. This is also how they learn to attack and grab actual prey. Baby raptors have to learn how to use their talons, just like a human baby has to learn how to grasp with their hands.

She then runs into the grass and starts chasing bugs. By now she is really hungry and flies into a tree to call for Mama. The cries actually sound like "mom, mom."

The soundtrack is provided by the robins, who never once stopped making their frantic alarm calls. In the end, their biggest fear came true. Mama attacked a robin's nest and brought a hatchling to her baby to eat. This is life in the wild.

This also explains why Mama was teaching her daughter how to crash into nests. It was all for survival. A true blessing to witness. Mother Nature is spectacular and sad all at once. Godspeed Bellissima!

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