Severson Dells

By Brian Leaf

This was the spring we planned to spy on a pair of red-tailed hawks nesting in the downtown’s River District.

The hawks had other plans.

They moved back into their nest before we humans could equip the large orange and white tower near Church and Jefferson streets with a wireless camera to broadcast the raising of their young to school classrooms and homes through the Internet.

The project, proposed by Severson Dells Nature Center, has been delayed until spring 2010.
Federal rules protect nesting raptors, whether they’re in a dead tree or a manmade tower. The rules also prevent humans from risking an aerial attack from an angry feathered missile protecting its family turf.

Hawk Cam is part of the Year of Innovation initiative to highlight unique projects throughout the region that result from collaborations between businesses and non-profits.

Our partners — AT&T; SupplyCore; Wilson Electric; Special Power, Inc.; the Labor Management Cooperation Committee of IBEW Local 364 and the Northern Illinois chapter of the National Electrical Contractors Association; and BirdFreak.com – are still enthused about the project.

Work on the project is expected to continue later this year, after the birds have left the nest.
Thank you, partners!

When you’re downtown, keep your eyes open for the red-tails, one of North America’s most common raptors, but a relative newcomer to the city.

They do seem out of place. It is normally a bird you see sitting on fence or telephone posts during a country drive, waiting for a rodent to appear in the grass. They usually nest in the crotch of a tree, 50 or 100 feet up.

But increasingly, red-tails are living the urban life, building their nests of sticks on buildings or man-made structures like the AT&T microwave tower. The most famous pair of urban hawks is

Pale Male and Lola, who moved into a building in Manhattan near Central Park. A PBS documentary was made about the NYC birds.

Red-tails eat rodents, small mammals, birds and reptiles. Scientists say the bird’s success in cities is, in part, because it can modify its diet to adjust to local food sources.

Breeding pairs usually remain together until the death of a partner. Females lay one to four eggs. Males do most of the hunting.

Red-tails have returned to the tower for at least the past three years and they’re often seen perched on the tower next to the AT&T building, or chasing flocks of frantic pigeons that may provide regular meals for these city dwellers and their brood.

They’re quite a sight to behold. But wait a year and hopefully you’ll get a much more intimate view into the life of Rockford’s River District red-tails.

This story appears in the March 18-24 edition of the Rock River Times.