I heard them long before I saw them while I was walking around one of the ponds near the swamp. They have a plaintive whistle that they tend to repeat over and over, and over. I finally spotted them in separate trees about 150 feet (45 meters) apart, casually watching each other. The path I was on went between them.
A pair in this territory raised three chicks last season. I never saw the nest but after the chicks fledged I watched them on training runs through the trees several times.
My path eventually took me closer to the hawk on my left and a slightly different angle.
These are more shots from a grey day in late December. It snowed here all day today basically leaving the greater Charleston area paralyzed so I’m revisiting some skipped images.
How awesome to come across them while courting. Great photos!
Thanks, Donna! I hope to see the chicks a little younger this year.
The bare branches frame them nicely.
It must have been great watching the fledglings.
The young ones did a lot of calling back and forth to each other or one of the adults so it was easy to follow their path through the tree tops. At first I thought they were in distress but figured out they were just learning.