Hi friends.  I had jury duty this week, and didn’t get a chance to write this week’s header at work like I usually do.  I made it through vior dire and was seated, but will have to come back next week to actually deliberate with the other jurors.  I will be sure to fill you all in once I am able, it has been a pretty interesting experience.  For now I’m not supposed to talk about it until we render our verdict. Nevertheless, I didn’t want to leave you with another filler header, so please enjoy the following bird. 

This week’s bird is the savanna hawk, a large raptor native to the same area we have been covering recently, from Panama and Trinidad south to Bolivia throughout all of Brazil, as well as Uruguay and Argentina.  There were reports of it having been sighted in southern California in the early 1970s, but I didn’t find anything since then.  The savanna hawk is fairly large, adults are 46–61 cm (18–24 in) in length and weigh 845 g (29.8 oz).  It is also not screwing around.  It eats a wide variety of animals, including  small mammals and birds, various fish, frogs, toads, eels, crabs, large insects and roots, as in from the ground.  It hunts in a conventional way, sallying from a high, isolated perch, but will also snag food while walking around on the ground and groups of up to 50 are known to work together patrolling the perimeter of brush fires, waiting for prey as it flees the inferno. My favorite fact this week is that female savanna hawks are up to 1/3 bigger than males, and can be large enough to be mistaken for eagles.

The Savanna hawk builds nests of sticks in palms or other tall trees located in the open or at the forest edge.  Chicks will fledge in about seven to eight weeks.  That seems long based on birds weve covered, but this one is supposed to be pretty big and from appearances a formidable hunter, so I guess that makes sense.  Its not methodically stalking plump berries through the canopy, it needs to get stuff done. The chicks will spend the next four to seven months with their parents, learning to fly and hunt before striking out on their own. 

Tune in next week to hear about my time on a jury for a criminal trial, assuming I come up with something interesting to say.  Or maybe birds. Time will tell.   Be kind to yourselves and others.

Links: https://tinyurl.com/3x2h3j59, https://tinyurl.com/2pmn2t8v, https://tinyurl.com/32t2jtjy, https://tinyurl.com/mr2ec4xy