The Riley boys & the Screech box

On this fine October morning, 2 generations of Riley's set out to build a fine home for a screech owl. The saga went something like this...

Ipswich Redtail

So I stopped by my parents property to try to see if the nesting Coopers Hawk’s young had hatched, not so much. However the resident Redtail was about and put on quite a show for me. Initially I noticed the bird because it was chasing a chipmunk around a tree on foot. Catch number one. The bird then flew to a near by limb and proceeded to eat the chipmunk, then preen its feathers seemingly unbothered by me. This is a bird my father swears is a “close friend” of his, perhaps so. I was about 15 feet from the Redtail for about 45 minutes. Right as I was about to leave the bird left the perch and snagged another chipmunk. 2 in an hour, one has to wonder how long a population can last with such high success rates.