A week or two ago Hildy forwarded a photo link from Ellen Mass showings a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk photographed on Cambridgepark Drive. Several responded that their impressions were that it was not one of the 185 — our -- birds.

I was not as certain and inquired around for other possible photos. I struck gold this week. I received two additional sets of photos from different people on Cambridgepark. I don't have all the info I would like but I can say categorically that most of the photos are definitely NOT of the 185 birds.

I received a set of photos of an adult, probably male, dark-eyed, without any band, and with very different markings on the neck and upper breast than Buzz or Ruby. NO way they are the same. I received a second set from another source of a fresh juvenile so incredibly heavily marked that one could question if it is a Redtail! It is a redtail, but I’ve never seen even a photo of a juvenile like this. No confusion whatsoever on this bird. There is a third photo of a large immature, which I would guess to be a female. It is possibly Lucy, but I don’t think so. There is a fourth set of photos by Joe Rodricks. The bird is a juvenile that is not Larry and no Lucy. It could conceivably be Lucky, but I doubt it.

I still have some more analysis to do here, but several things seem clear:

1. A pair of Red-tailed Hawks nested at 185 Alewife Brook Parkway and raised three young that fledged successfully.
2. Another pair of Red-tailed Hawks nested at or more likely near Cambridgepark Drive. They successfully fledged at least 1, probably 2, young.
3. The adult was photographed on June 22, perched on a railing. The juveniles were photographed in early July, one sitting on a ledge, but most sitting on the edge of the buildings.
4. Buzz and Ruby frequently perched on the Rindge Ave apartments and soared south and east of, and over, them. I never saw them soar over Cambridgepark, nor did I see one of the adults from Cambridgepark perched on a Rindge building. It looks like the B&M tracks and Alewife Brook were important territorial boundaries for the two nesting pairs. Buzz and Ruby could see virtually all their nesting territory from high atop Rindge, and could keep an eye on the Cambridgepark birds.
5. I never saw any of our Red-tailed Hawks fly across the B&M tracks into Cambridgepark.
6. Last week several of us saw an adult Redtail perch on the roof edge of a Cambridgepark office building, but could not identify the individual. My guess is that it was one of the CP adults, not one of our (AB) birds.
7. When nesting, I think Redtails are pretty territorial. I’ve seen many a "foreigner" pass over someone else's nest or nearby nesting territory, but they have to be HIGH, clearly not hunting and posing a possible threat. I saw a large adult female coming out of the southwest several times while the chicks were in the nest and fly high above 185 without aggravating our parents, one or both of whom were at the nest several of the times. (At one point no AB adult was visible when the interloper flew over 185.

I need to do some more work trying to track dates, specific locations, for the photos and for cataloging them, but there is no doubt in my mind that there was another nesting pair not too far away, on the other side of the tracks.

Best,

Paul

Paul M. Roberts
Medford, MA
phawk254@comcast.net