Early August can be a boring time of year for birders. Not only are birds keeping a low profile due to the heat and lack of need to defend a territory, many of them are in heavy molt and looking their scraggliest. Birders often choose to pursue other hobbies during this time of year, and dream of fall migration, which begins in earnest next month. However, if rather than looking for lots of species, you instead focus on watching bird behavior, August can actually be quite fun. It’s the time of year when fledgling birds are at their goofiest!

This week, we’ve returned to Blue Oak Ranch Reserve, and while holding office hours on the back porch of the barn, I’ve had plenty of time to watch some youngsters. While watching California Thrashers learn to flip leaves over and observing Western Bluebirds trying to fly catch has been fun, I’ve particularly enjoyed the antics of the young birds of prey. For some reason, this was an exceptional year for rodent abundance. Particularly voles and deer mice have been just everywhere. The bad news—that seems to have meant an abundance of ticks. The good news—there was plenty of food for baby hawks and owls.

Many birds of prey lay extra eggs beyond what the parents could feed in a normal year. In most years, the last one or two birds to hatch end up getting bullied by their siblings and tend not to make it out of the nest. This year however, the abundance of food led to a higher than average fledge rate. Now, many of the youngsters, still recognizable by their unique plumages, are trying to hunt on their own. And I hate to say, but it does not seem to be going well.

While there are juvenile Red-Tailed Hawks everywhere, one bird in particular has taken up residence in the big valley oak tree by the back of the barn. Every twenty minutes or so for large parts of the day, the youngster swoops down over the large ground squirrel colony, eliciting a chorus of chirps. I don’t know if it’s the approach, the angle, or the speed, but I’ve watched maybe twenty failed attempts. The poor juvenile ends up standing sullenly on the ground before retreating back to the oak tree to sulk before trying again.

We also have a resident juvenile Cooper’s Hawk that’s not faring any better. Cooper’s Hawks specialize on hunting medium sized birds in forested areas. However, this individual doesn’t seem to have gotten the memo. I’ve watched them dive for a ground foraging finches a couple of times, and even make an attempt at a vole without any success. Maybe an apprenticeship program would help them learn some better techniques.

The night shift at BORR is currently being dominated by American Barn Owls in numbers like I’ve never seen. I haven’t seen any hunting occurring—it’s a little harder to watch in the dark. But based on the number of frustrated shrieks and hisses I’ve been hearing, I don’t think it’s going any better.

The coolest failed predation attempt I watched, was from a young Golden Eagle. This largest of raptors dove after a ground squirrel thirty feet away from, missing pretty badly. Unfortunately, junior was subsequently driven away from the area by a team of Common Ravens and Red-Tailed Hawks.

Luckily with the ongoing rodent boom, everyone will have essentially unlimited attempts to perfect the craft of hunting. I hope the practice goes well, and I’ll actually see some successes by the time I return next month.