Early Nesting Raptors

     Raptors are birds of prey, including owls, eagles and hawks, that kill and eat other kinds of animals.  Three species of raptors here in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, begin their courtships early in the reproductive cycle of each year.  The three are great horned owls, bald eagles and red-tailed hawks, all of which are highly adaptable around the works of people, which is good for these large, common raptors because that adapting adds to their nesting sites, and their numbers.  Human activities have not pushed these birds away; rather these raptors have used them to their own advantage.
     Females of each kind of raptor is a little larger than her mate.  Females are larger to brood and defend their young in the nest.  Males are a bit smaller to be quicker on the hunt because, while their mates brood, they are doing most of the hunting for the whole family.  This is a division of labor that works toward the good of each raptor species.
     Great horned owls live permanently and nest in woodlands and older suburban areas with their many tall trees.  They perch high in trees, particularly coniferous ones where they are available in the suburbs, and mostly catch rodents at night in fields near their roosting and nesting sites.  Great horns stand about two feet tall, have cryptic plumages that camouflage them in the trees and a long sharp claw or talon on each toe for perching and catching and killing prey.
     Horned owls start their courtships about the end of November and through December when we hear pairs of them hooting boisterously to each other just after sunset and just before sunrise each wintry day.  Their calling to each other seems haunting to us.  Each series of hoots begins with three short notes, followed by two long ones, sounding like "hoo, hoo, hoo- hoooooo, hoooooo".  Members of each pair's calls to each other lasts about 10 to 15 minutes, after which the owls take off to hunt prey into the dark of night.
     During January, each pair of horned owls adds twigs and other vegetation to an old hawk, heron or crow nest that they usurped for themselves in the tree tops.  Generally, they take over those cradles before the original builders return to them, making pirating those nurseries easy for the owls.
     Each female owl lays one or two eggs in her nest toward the end of January and the chicks hatch by the end of February.  Obviously, in the cold weather at that time the female must brood her clutch and small young almost constantly while her mate feeds her on the nest. 
     As the chicks grow larger in March, but still need to be brooded, the male owl hunts prey for the whole family day and night.  But by the middle of April, young horned owls fledge their nests, have feathers to insulate against cold nights and can protect themselves from predators.  Now both parents hunt to feed their large offspring.  By the end of May, when there is an abundance of young prey animals and the pickings are easy, the young owls will be on their own.
     Thinking backward, great horned owls start their courting in late November so their chicks will be  independent when prey species are most abundant and vulnerable.  Through trial and error, the owls' timing of courtship works out just right.
     Several pairs of stately bald eagles annually nest in Lancaster County, some along the Susquehanna River, some along larger, human-made impoundments locally and still others in the county's farmland.  Nesting in Lancaster County farmland is a new adaptation by these magnificent birds of prey.  Pairs of this species begin their courtships during December when they are seen perching or soaring on high together.  Soon they are remodeling their large, bulky stick nests in tall trees, usually near water.  Each female lays one to three eggs in a clutch early in February and the young hatch early in March. 
     Again, as the male of each pair hunts for the whole family, his mate constantly broods the small chicks.  But when the young get older and larger and can insulate and protect themselves, both parents of each pair hunt for fish and other critters to feed their offspring.  Finally, sometime in June, the young eagles are on their own, ready to hunt and scavenge as their parents do.  Now they are as big as their parents, but are chocolate-brown all over instead of being dark with white heads and tails.
     Pairs of red-tailed hawks are seen perching and soaring together by late December and through January along woodland edges, in older suburbs with lots of tall trees and gray squirrels, and, most commonly, in local cropland, where they perch on lone trees in fields to watch for mice, rats and other prey animals.  Like horned owls, red-tails take over the treetop nests of crows, herons and other kinds of hawks early, before the rightful owners return to their handiworks.
     Each female red-tail lays about three eggs in a clutch by mid-February.  The hawk chicks hatch around the middle of March.  Again, only the male of the pair hunts and feeds the female and young babies until they are old enough to insulate and defend themselves.  Then both parents of the pair hunt for and feed the youngsters until they are independent of their parents.
     Being daytime hunters and larger than crows in size, red-tails specialize in catching and eating gray squirrels that commonly live in woods and older suburban areas.  If the reader is tired of these squirrels in your yard, tolerate the presence of red-tailed hawks.
     Horned owls, bald eagles and red-tails are raptors that have adapted well to human-made habitats here in Lancaster County, as they have elsewhere.  They are so well oriented in human environs, they are readily rearing offspring there as well, which is good for them, and us.