Just one of the kites (the male) was occasionally seen in July. There was also little time to do much observation in July. On August 1st, at approximately 5pm, the kites were heard ‘egraaking’. After a short while, the female was located high in a large gum tree situated to the west of, and overlooking, the nest tree.
As I was walking down a path toward More Mesa, the male was heard and then seen perched on an oak at the edge of More Mesa. After walking on More Mesa, I returned to the end of Vieja Drive at about 6:42pm where the female was observed back at the nest. The fact that the female had moved off the nest for a while, indicated that the chicks had already hatched. After hatching, the parents feed the chicks and spend less and less time in the nest tree, and perch in trees close-by.
The following activity shown in the slideshow.
- August 01: Female in gum overlooking nest tree.
- August 01: Close-up of female in gum tree.
- August 01: Another view of gum tree overlooking nest oak.
- August 01: Photo of female at nest.
- August 13: First chick seen.
- August 19: Two chicks seen. The older chick was the most visible and ‘egraaked’ softly. The female flew up and over the nest, and then sat with the chicks.
- August 20: First chick perched near nest. From 4:30pm to 5:00pm on August 20, the oldest chick was observed as it sometimes sat on the foliage at the edge of the nest, from where it could observe what was going on in the street below and in the air above. It also exercised its wings. It is probably safe to assume that the chick must have noticed that there more moving objects in the street below (north) than in the gardens to the south, because south is the direction it chose on its first flight.
- August 24: Oldest chick observing. The last three photos are of the chick observing what was going on all around the nest tree.