Dear List,

Today I was in the Brandywine area of CVNP and witnessed a very impressive
Red Tailed Hawk display.  Actually, the entire presentation was first called
to my attention by a majestic adult Red Shouldered Hawk, who seemed to be
very noisily protesting the arrival of what turned out to be at least four
and possibly more intruders.  All were mature Red Taileds, and judging from
relative size, three were male, only one was female.

The four were flying fairly close to each other, though with my camera I
never managed to get more than two in the same frame at the same time.  I'd
guess they were ranging from about 100 to 200 feet.  For what it's worth, I
managed to get one picture that I'm fairly happy with:
http://www.whatbird.com/forums/forums/storage/1410/217026/RTHAbg.jpg

What's got me puzzled about this, is that I've read a great deal about Red
Taileds and never seen it mentioned that this kind of mano-a-mano
competition is part of the mate-selection process.  (What I've read suggests
that a lone male will find a lone female and perform various routines to win
her favor.)  So I'm just wondering if I've misunderstood the story here.
It's possible that what I saw were two mated pairs (though again, it did
seem like three were on the small size, only one was noticeably larger [the
one on the right in my pic]--and there may have even been a fifth hawk at
one point, too).  But what would be the occasion for such a gathering?
Would two mating pairs come into such close aerial proximity to each other?

Any thoughts? (On or off list?)
Thanks,
Noah (Cuyahoga County)

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