Following the Red Tail Couple: Second Family Scene

Two weeks ago I posted that the story of Buzz and Belle was a melodrama worthy of broadcast on Univision. It now looks as though they might be picked up by PBS, maybe to replace Downton Abbey.

Beginning Sunday, April 12, Belle began bringing sticks into the nest, large sticks. Into a nest where she had rarely set a foot, a talon, over the course of almost a year. Into a nest she had clearly rejected as a viable option last spring when Buzz selected her to succeed his deceased Ruby. A nest she clearly rejected later in that spring when they abandoned their nest on Fawcett, where Belle had laid an unknown number of eggs in the same nest where Ruby had laid eggs less than two months earlier. Buzz had built up that nest, the "annex," on the atrium of 185 Alewife Brook Parkway this spring. He had spent hours bringing sticks into that nest, adding to its bulk. He had spent considerable time working sticks into the deeper, bulkier nest bowl. He had worked hours on the nest, without his mate. She had barely set foot into the nest, much less bring sticks to it or work on the architecture. Buzz would work on weaving new sticks into the nest and then stand on the lip of the bowl, as though looking for his mate to come and take ownership. She would sit on the RA (radio antenna) over a quarter mile away where she could Buzz and the nest, and Buzz could see her. I questioned if she was opposed to nesting on a manmade structure instead of a tree, or in a location so exposed, so visible to Peregrines, crows, territorial mockingbirds, and worst of all, hungry hominids who would visually lock on her and later, hopefully, on her chicks. Belle is not accustomed to the bright lights of Fresh Pond and Alewife Brook Parkways, to always being in the spotlight. Was her rejection of the 185 nest "total," so that Buzz would feel compelled to build a new nest in a more secluded spot, perhaps in a tree? Was her seeming dalliance with an immature Redtail just helping educate the next generation of Redtails, or was she trying to place doubt in Buzz's mind. Was she playing hardball?

Was Buzz frustrated by her seeming intransigence? It clearly seemed so. Were his encounters with a large, immature female attempts to enrich the knowledge and understanding of a clearly young and learning immature female? Or was he simply driving off a truly juvenile female who might have been courting Buzz for attention? Or was Buzz using the actions of this young female to raise doubts in Belle's head? Just send your check into PBS and receive the new special DVD with previously unseen footage of "Buzz and Belle: Alewife Abbey."

Whatever was going on, Sunday Belle displayed a very different attitude towards the nest. She brought in sticks. Large sticks. She sat with Buzz in the nest. Togetherness, though Buzz was still doing most of the carpentry work on the nest. They copulated in between tackling various construction assignments. Belle then began bringing in vines and bark, soft, pliable materials that would make sitting in the nest for roughly 20 hours a day for roughly five weeks a little more comfortable. Big pieces of bark. The finishing touches on the end of home remodeling. The accent pillows that give her bedroom a special tone.... Belle spent time in the nest when Buzz was out hunting. If you had dropped in from outer space, this would all look like normal Redtail behavior, but their relationship had seemed anything but normal for the past two months.

A week or two ago, Buzz had brought Starlings in to feed Belle, and a snake or two. Within the past week, he brought in at least two large rats for Belle. Probably rats full of SGARs. Second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides, which had killed Ruby last spring when she had fed largely on rats. But they don't know this, and rats are the largest, meatiest, and excluding toxins, probably one of the most nutritious prey items on the menu. They just don't understand what we humans are doing to the rats that actually make them easier for the hawks to capture. Buzz began bringing in prey and leaving it for Belle on the northeast corner of the roof of 185, right next to the nest, and Belle came in to receive the gift. This was new. Different. And increased the bond between the two. It demonstrated her seeming acceptance of 185 and the nest. Two days ago, around lunchtime, Buzz flew in and landed on the northeast corner of the roof. He bent over and stood erect again. Suddenly he hopped off the edge of the roof onto the roof itself and began dancing as though he had a hotfoot. He bent over, stood up, and lofted into the air with a fairly large snake in his beak. He had brought a live snake to the roof and put it down on the roof for his mate, but the snake obviously had begun to quickly crawl away before Belle appeared. Buzz had to hop down and recapture the putative "meal for his mate."

For the past four days, the soap opera or melodrama has been replaced by sweetness and light, teamwork and cozy home scenes. I was almost beginning to hum "Moon River" to myself. There was one ominous note, however. At sunrise on Monday morning, his gray eminence was perched on the whip antenna on the roof of Rindge 1. The adult male Peregrine who had wintered on these towers for the past three years. The bird that owns the skies over Fresh Pond Mall. The male whose mate is nesting on the roof of Tufts Medical in Watertown. He seems to come back every day or two, likely to hunt familiar territory where blackbirds and Starlings are pretty abundant. What was he doing back this sunrise, lording over all his winter territory? Suddenly he exploded off the antenna in a sharp, deep stoop over Route 16 and west down the B&M tracks. Buzz and Bella have been spending a lot of time in the north end of the pine grove at Abt. Was he going at one or both of them? Or was he stooping on prey? Whatever, he was a blue bullet who disappeared from view as a large semi tractor trailer crawled across the bridge, blocking my view. I did not see him again, and did not see Buzz or Belle in the area.

On Tuesday around lunchtime, things were slow when I spotted a Redtail flying high across Summer Shack, heading for Rindge Towers. Buzz, who began rapid stutter flapping. Was he going in on a Peregrine, to drive his gray eminence away? No sign of the falcon, and I lost Buzz behind Tower 2. Minutes later I saw a falcon on the southwest corner of the fence on the roof of Rindge 3, leaning aggressively into the wind, poised to attack. Only this bird was too big for the male. The female falcon must be back, on break from the nest. I thought there is going to be trouble in River City.... But something looked a bit off. I whipped out my Nikon P510 megazoom and took several photos at 84X. The bird was not a falcon but a buteo. Buzz. Sitting prominently on the top of Rindge 3, leaning into a stiff southwest wind. Buzz, in full, undisputed possession of all three Rindge Towers, the tallest, most prominent perches in his territory. (The RA might technically be taller, but it is not as significant.) Buzz, once again lord of all he surveys. Just like three years ago. That stutter flapping had not been the prelude to an attack, but a demonstration of ownership, and maybe, just maybe, joy. So many, many things had been in question for weeks, stretching into months. Would Belle accept the 185 nest? Would Buzz and Belle withstand the ministrations of those attractive juveniles? Would Buzz and Belle remain mated? Would she lays eggs somewhere? It is already five weeks later than when Ruby laid last spring. Would they actually nest successfully this year? Would the Peregrines allow them to return to the obvious nest on 185? So much was in question. In doubt. But suddenly things seemed to go right for Buzz and Belle. It was warm and sunny. And really breezy. Buzz leapt into the air and soared slowly over the B&M tracks, and Apple Cinema, and the north end of the mall parking lot. His bright white breast reflected the brilliant sun, and when he wheeled, his bright red tail looked like it was on fire. Buzz is back. Buzz IS back.

Buzz and Belle seem in a much better place than we've seen for the past twelve months. Nothing is set in stone. Nothing is certain. Except that for the past four days things look like they are finally going Buzz and Belle's way. May it be so.

I've loaded 28 new photos of Buzz and Belle's past week on my Flickr site at https://www.flickr.com/photos/30136859@N06/sets/72157627784588301

The photos tell a story and are accompanied by descriptive captions. The captions are best read when viewing the album in slide show mode, one photo on the screen at a time. The beginning of the story is 28 slides in, so you can count the rows of photos and start 28 in, working your way back (left) to the beginning. The most recent photos are the first slides you see in the album.

Best,

Paul

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