Once again red-tailed hawks have nested near a TxDOT camera in Irving, giving North Texans a rare, up-close view of a baby hawk hatching and being fed as it grows up.
As is expected, in the month since we began streaming the baby hawk it's grown quite a bit. The eya (a young, unfeathered hawk not yet ready for flight) now has feathers and regularly spreads its wings, taking steps toward its first flight.
The camera at State Highway 114 at Rochelle Boulevard has been home to a family of hawks dating back until at least 2016. Preservationtree.com says it's common for a family of hawks to use the same nesting spot year after year.
From time to time we'll be streaming the same feed below -- but be warned, while most of the time you'll see a hawk and its cute chick, mom and dad could also be feeding their eyas rats, rabbits, or whatever else they catch and tear apart for dinner. Hawks are known to also eat squirrels, snakes, bats, frogs and other birds -- you never know what's for dinner.
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Eyas is the name for an unfledged (unfeathered) nestling hawk not yet ready for flight. The eyas can leave the nest 6-7 weeks after hatching, according to audubon.org, but are not capable of strong flight for another couple of weeks after that.
If you see a traffic report in the stream above, the hawks will return soon. If our stream is not active above, the best way to see the baby hawk is on TxDOT's website (click here). When the camera isn't monitoring traffic conditions, it's facing the new family.
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