All About Birds, Part 2
—Red-tailed Hawks, Cedar Waxwings, Great Horned Owls & Cooper’s Hawks
Today’s post, which continues the bird “mini-series” I started last week, features four species of birds—as well as a couple of things to celebrate!
Here’s my Perpetual Journal page featuring a Red-tailed Hawk (painted in 2025) and Cedar Waxwings (painted in 2023).
Hubby & I haven’t seen Cedar Waxwings in our yard since January 2023, so I’m glad I recorded that momentous occasion 😁 in my Perpetual Journal then!
🧐 A Fun Fact about Cedar Waxwings
Cedar Waxwings are one of the few North American birds that specialize in eating fruit. However, they occasionally become intoxicated or even die if they consume overripe berries that have started to ferment and produce alcohol.
You can learn more about Cedar Waxwings at All About Birds.
🧐 A Fun Fact about Red-tailed Hawks
Whenever a hawk or eagle appears onscreen, no matter what species the bird actually is, the shrill “kee-eeeee-arr” call on the soundtrack is almost always the call of a Red-tailed Hawk.
You can learn more about Red-tailed Hawks at All About Birds.
Here’s my next week’s Perpetual Journal page, featuring Great Horned Owls duetting (painted in 2025) and a Cooper’s Hawk (painted in 2023).
Male Great Horned Owls have deeper voices than females, and when Hubby & I heard these two owls duetting we definitely noticed the difference in pitch. Their back-and-forth calling reminds me of the call-and-response that I hear in jazz music.
According to Jennifer Ackerman in her book The Bird Way (which I'm currently reading), duetting occurs in about 16% of bird species, mainly in the tropics—so I feel fortunate that I’ve heard Great Horned Owls duetting in our yard!
🧐 A Fun Fact about Great Horned Owls
Great Horned Owls take large prey including Ospreys, Peregrine Falcons, Prairie Falcons, and other owls, as well as small prey like rodents, frogs, and scorpions.
You can learn more about Great Horned Owls at All About Birds.
Now, on to our Cooper’s Hawk friends! Cooper’s Hawks built a nest in 2024 and previous years in this same pine tree that the Red-tailed Hawk perched on (and I painted for my PJ) in 2025. Since the Red-tailed Hawk has been absent from that tree for the past month or so, we’ve seen Cooper’s Hawks once again building a nest in the pine tree. Hubby & I have recently observed Cooper’s Hawks gathering dead Palo Verde branches in our yard, to use in the nest they’re building. Hopefully we’ll see little white fuzzy Cooper’s Hawk chicks this year like we’ve seen in the past!
🧐 A Fun Fact about Cooper’s Hawks
Cooper’s Hawk males (like most male hawks) are much smaller than their mates. The males provide nearly all the food to females and young during the time (about 90 days) before the young fledge.
You can learn more about Cooper’s Hawks at All About Birds.
Now, here’s something to celebrate:
🎺 Doot, do-do-DOOOOO!
That’s the trumpet fanfare announcing that March 18, 2025 was the 2-year anniversary of this blog! Hooray! 🎉 Thanks for joining me on this journey! I’ll continue to bring you more art, nature & positivity in the future!
💭 Comics Corner
Speaking of blogging, here’s a fun Real Life Adventures comic about blogging!
And here’s more positivity to celebrate:
😃 U.N. International Day of Happiness
Did you know that today, March 20, is the U.N. International Day of Happiness? Well, now you do! Check out their website for lots of free resources about happiness.
Here’s a positive quote I found on their website:
“We don’t have to engage in grand, heroic actions to participate in the process of change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world.”
- Howard Zinn
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