Highland Hospital staff and wildlife ecologists are hoping Stormy and Sunny will raise chicks again this spring.
Originally published on The Oaklandside.
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A pair of red-tailed hawks have been living on Oakland’s 澳门新葡京 Chan Highland Hospital Campus for several years now. Their soaring flights across the hospital’s central courtyard garden, and around the perimeter where they roost in treetops, have thrilled staff and patients. And last year, the pair raised chicks in a nest high up in a cedar tree.
Now, the Alameda Health System, which operates the hospital, has installed a wildlife webcam that allows anyone to watch the hawk’s nest in real-time.
The hospital made the announcement to coincide with Valentine’s Day.
“Red-tailed hawks are romantics who tend to mate in long-term, if not life-long, monogamous relationships,” the Alameda Health System noted in a press release.
Predatory bird expert and wildlife ecologist Dr. Peter Sharpe helped set up the camera. He said the hope is that Stormy and Sunny—named by hospital staff last year following a story in The Oaklandside—will raise their chicks this year in the nest.
“They are likely to begin nesting in March and typically lay up to four eggs that hatch in about 28 to 35 days,” said Sharpe. “Once they hatch, the chicks are cared for in the nest until they take their first flight at about 6 weeks of age.”
You can watch the nest here.