Perched on top of an office building on Alewife Brook Parkway in Cambridge, MA is a family of red-tailed hawks. If you’re from the area, like me, you’ve probably heard about Buzz and Ruby and their little nestlings.
A man named Ernie Sarro has been tracking the events and last night, Mike, Lisa and I paid a visit to their giant nest which overlooks a busy, city road.
I did a horrible job of taking photos because I was adamant about zooming in so close with my unsteady hand. Most of my pictures came out blurry, but Ernie was nice enough to let me take a photo through his lens, which worked out great in Costa Rica, but not quite as well here. Despite the fact that the photo is dark, I’m still glad I caught a face.
Ever since I was younger I’ve been fascinated with seeing hawks. On long, family car rides when I was younger, my dad would always say, “look at the hawk!” if he saw one flying above the highway. I’d instantly find myself stretching my seat belt, contorting my body and straining my neck to be able to catch just a glance of it through the windows.
On Sunday, as we stood on the sidewalk of the busy road, bikers, walkers and even people in cars stopped to ask what we were looking at. We pointed up, told them it was a family of hawks and then we all stared up at the sky like it was the Fourth of July and we were waiting for a fireworks show to begin.
Ernie is tracking the progress of the little hawk family. You can find incredible photos at his blog on the Cambridge Community Television site.
He’s also posting YouTube video updates like this one…
The chicks are expected to fly at the end of May.
My niece is named Ruby. It’s a great name!
how cool! we have a pair of red tailed hawks by my house and when i was a kid they would always scare me when they flew out of the tree.
I have to admire these birds who make a home so much out of their natural element. They really know how to adapt. How was the birding in Costa Rica? I bet you saw some magnificent colors.
Yesterday morning, I was driving by the building and I saw a big hullabaloo of film crews and photographers filming Buzz and Ruby! They are movie stars now.