Mendocino Brewing

Buzz - A serious father

We recently came across a beautiful story documenting the lives of two red tail hawks named Buzz and Ruby. This feathery couple has developed a large and dedicated following of people over the last two years.

On February 12, 2010 Ernie Sarro spotted two red tail hawks perched on a light post in the downtown Fresh Pond Mall area of Cambridge, Massachusetts. These two hawks had made a nest on the 7th floor of 185 Alewife Brook Parkway and were expecting three chicks. Ernie has faithfully video documented the lives of Buzz and Ruby and their adorable off-spring ever since. Since their first discovery, Ruby and Buzz have drawn crowds of “hawk stalkers”  to their doorstep to watch the couple raise, care for, and teach their chicks how to fly. This great series really gives a different meaning to the saying, “flying the coop”!

For the full length documentaries of the amazing lives of Buzz and Ruby visit

http://www.theexpertseries.tv/ or check out Ernie’s blog at http://www.gotoernie.com/

(Here’s the first video created about Buzz and Ruby)

Buzz and Ruby's kids. The Three Amigos!

Check Out this Video of some Early Flight Training

Enjoy!

Bird of the Month – Kestrel Falcon

October’s bird of the month is the small but powerful kestrel falcon commonly known as the sparrow hawk. It is the smallest falcon in North America and the only kestrel found in the Americas. The kestrel’s primary location ranges across North and South America. They are found in central Mexico and the Caribbean during the winter and migrate to Canada and Nova Scotia in the summertime for their peak breeding season.

Plumage

The male kestrel has blue-grey wings with black spots and white undersides. The belly and flanks are white with black spotting and the tail is a reddish-brown with a black band. The wings and back of the female kestrel is reddish-brown with dark brown barring. The undersides of the female are creamy with heavy brown streaking and the tail is reddish-brown with dark black bars. Both males and females have distinctive black lines under their eyes that are used to cut down on glare while hunting.

Size and Diet

The kestrel grows between 7 and 8 inches in length with a wingspan between 20 and 24 inches. Females are typically larger than males weighing in between 4 to 6 ounces. Despite their small size, kestrels are known to eat other small birds along with their staple diet of grasshoppers, dragonflies, lizards, mice, and voles. They have also been reported to have killed larger animals such as bats, squirrels, and snakes.

A Unique Ability

The eyesight of a kestrel falcon is only slightly better than a human’s. However, due to specialized cone receptors in their eyes a kestrel can see ultraviolet light. This unique ability helps the bird find one of its favorite meals, a mouse like creature called a vole. Voles feed during the day, hidden in the grass they are difficult to see. But they have one weakness, their bladder. They leave a trail of urine wherever they go. Urine reflects ultraviolet light which leads the high flying hunter right to its meal.

Breeding and Hatching

Kestrels are sexually mature by their first spring and often mate with one individual for life. Males will perform intricate climb and dive displays to show off their territory and attract a mate. Once a pair finds each other they build their nests in tight fitting natural cavities for greatest protection for the eggs and young. Primarily the female is responsible for the 30 days of incubation that it takes before the eggs hatch, although the male incubates some of the time. The chicks grow very quickly reaching an adult weight after 16 to 17 days. Between 28 through 31 days after hatching the wings are developed and they are able to leave the nest.

The kestrel falcon is a beautiful bird of prey that shows off bright plumage and amazing aerial displays. It is the most abundant falcon in North America with an estimation of 1.2 million pairs.

Check out this video of a hovering Kestrel. This is amazing! The head never seems to move at all. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hzyu-PotSD4&feature=related

See ya next time. What’s your favorite raptor? and why?

August’s bird of the month is the majestic Great Blue Heron. They are the largest and most widespread heron in North America. They can be spotted along the ocean shore line, on the edges of small inland ponds, streams, lakes and marshes. They can be identified by their blue and gray plumage, long legs, yellow bill, and a long “S” shaped neck. These birds are quite a sight to see when they are flying overhead. With a wingspan of up to seven feet wide and three to four feet tall they are hard to miss.

Skilled Fisher

The Blue Heron is a wader and expert fisher. They will patiently stand still for hours stalking their aquatic prey waiting until fish come within range of their long necks and blade like bill. Rapidly striking, the heron delivers a deathblow with a quick thrust of its sharp bill spearing its prey and then swallowing it whole. They have been known to choke to death by attempting to swallow fish too large for their long S-shaped necks. Although fish mainly comprises a blue heron’s diet, mice, insects, amphibians and other small creatures are a staple part as well.

Caring Parents

The Great Heron prefers to hunt alone but typically nest in colonies. Tall trees or low shrubs are the choice nesting areas. During mating season, the female produces between two and seven pale blue eggs in a large nest made from sticks, lined with pine needles, moss, reeds, twigs, and dry grass. Both parents incubate and protect the chicks from the time they hatch to when they can survive on their own after about two months of age.

These beautiful and highly skilled hunters are a pleasure to observe on a day out at the beach or the lake. Although the Great Blue Heron is technically not a raptor, you wouldn’t want to be a small creature around when it’s hungry! There’s no doubt about why we choose this amazing bird as our mascot to one of our favorite craft brews.

Our company takes great pride in its birds of prey mascots. They are majestic, fierce, and beautiful, each with their own unique qualities and attributes. We could not decide on one particular bird while creating our brews so we decided on choosing a variety of feathered friends to help give life and uniqueness to our craft beers. In honor of our regal birds, each month we will post a Bird of the Month article describing the exceptional qualities and interesting facts of the chosen. What better way to start off than with the Red Tail Hawk?

Buteo Jamaicensis – Red Tail Hawk

The most common hawk in North America, the red tail is often seen on telephone poles or fence posts in open country watching for potential prey. The red tail was first scientifically studied in Jamaica hence its scientific name Buteo jamaicensis. Buteo is a genus describing medium to fairly large, wide-ranging raptors with a robust body and broad wings. The red tail can be found all over the continent ranging from Alaska and Canada to south of Panama. This hawk is comfortable in living in just about every type of environment from open country, roadsides, woodlands, farmlands, prairies, mountains, to deserts and are even found in the tropical rainforests of Mexico.

Aerial Acrobats – The Courtship Dance

Red tails have a unique courtship dance that is quite impressive to watch. Soaring in wide circles at high altitudes the male goes into a vertical dive and shoots up again at an angle nearly as steep. After several dives he approaches the female from above and lightly touches her as he passes by. Often times the courting pair will lock on to one another by seizing talons and plummet in circles towards the ground, breaking off at the last moment.

Nesting

Red-tailed hawks are monogamous and often mate for life. In preparation for a clutch of chicks the couple will create a nest of sticks, bark, fresh foliage, and dry vegetation that can range from three feet across to a height of six feet high. The female will lay a clutch ranging from one to five eggs once a year. Both hawks will incubate the eggs for four to five weeks and will care for and feed the young from the time they hatch to the time they leave the nest six weeks later. Nearly half the red tails that are born every year do not survive but the ones that do average a lifespan of 21 years and can boast a wingspan of nearly five feet.

Squirrel – It’s What’s For Dinner

The typical diet of the red tail consists of small mammals. Common prey includes mice, rabbits, squirrels, snakes, blackbirds, pheasants, and rats. Mature hawks have been known to dive-bomb smaller birds and bats right out of the sky. With eyesight eight times as powerful as a human’s, the hawk spots its prey at high altitude and dive-bombs the unaware victim using its sharp talons as the finishing move.

The red-tailed hawk is both majestic and beautiful with a unique and chilling cry. In fact the signature call of the Red-tailed hawk is widely used in movies to represent an eagle or other bird of prey soaring through the sky. Hollywood believes that the cry of the red-tail is more regal and “eagle-like” than the actual call of the eagle itself.

Have you taken any photos of the Red Tail (the brew OR the bird) and would like to share? We would love to see them.