A red-tailed hawk has made herself a unique place to call home: atop a 150-foot camera pole in Irving, Texas.
Rochelle the hawk is named after the street, Rochelle Boulevard, where, for the past decade, she has maintained a nest—right under a Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) camera on top of a pole. There, she lays eggs, tends to her chicks, and, at times, looks into the camera innocently, leaving the employees pleasantly amused.
“There’s a cabinet on top of the high mast ring and they nest on top of the cabinet,” Craig Burgan, a traffic systems administrator for TxDOT, said in a press release.
TxDOT employees are very fond of red-tailed hawks like Rochelle.
“We love them. They’re fun to watch, especially when the eggs hatch and we can watch the chicks grow and feed,” said Mr. Burgan.
Rochelle spends time beautifying her nest and taking care of her chicks. Although her mate—who has not yet been given a name—pitches in to help, Rochelle is the primary caretaker of the nest.
News about red-tailed hawks and their chicks has spread around the area. The local media has shown a “keen interest” and has featured the special hawk family in several broadcasts, Mr. Burgan said.
Earlier this year, Rochelle laid two eggs, and the employees who monitor TxDOT cameras had been looking forward to seeing Rochelle’s chicks. However, the eggs were unfortunately blown away by high winds. Rochelle disappeared around the same time and “hasn’t returned to the nest,” according to the press release.
Since Rochelle makes an annual return to the nest, TxDOT employees believe she’ll come back next year and lay eggs once again. They hope to see chicks emerge from the new eggs.
Tony Hartzel, a TxDOT public information officer from Dallas, told The Epoch Times in an email that Rochelle makes an annual return to the nest and that “TxDOT is looking forward to seeing her again next spring.”
