West Hartford Hawk Nearly Ready To Take Flight

An updated look as the baby red-tailed hawk that was hatched in a nest on the site of what will be the Delamar West Harford Hotel.

By Ronni Newton, Video by Mike Berzenski

Mona Cavallero and Mike Berzenski have been carefully watching the red-tailed hawk, affectionately named “Baby Delamar,” that was hatched in a nest in the lone pine tree remaining on the site of what will eventually be the Delamar West Hartford Hotel on Raymond Road.

As can be seen in the photos and the video shot by Berzenski on Sunday, June 28, Delamar has grown rapidly and is nearly the size of its mother. The mother hawk can be seen feeding her baby as well as keeping watch over the area from a perch on the roof of the Hartford Hospital Medical Building in Blue Back Square.

“Delamar has grown in full feathers and has the color of a juvenile now. We saw him flapping and sitting on both sides of the nest’s edge tonight. We think he’s starting to practice for his first solo flight!” Cavallero said in an email.

The construction crew has been keeping an eye on the nest, and Cavallero has asked them to keep special watch in the next week or two. The bird watchers have no idea which way the hawk will fly when it does leave the next, but are hoping it avoids the potential dangers of the Raymond Road area and instead flies toward residences or Trout Brook.

The pine tree has been separated from the rest of the construction site with fencing and will remain in place until the baby hawk has left the nest for good.

While not endangered, red-tailed hawks are predatory birds that are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. The Town of West Hartford and developers of the Delamar West Hartford Hotel have taken measures to ensure the hawk’s safety.

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