What to Know
- The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is home to a red-tailed hawk nest
- The Coliseum's Exposition Park neighbor, the Natural History Museum, shared several photos, including baby bird pictures, in a recent newsletter
- Moses Aubrey, a Science Communicator with the museum, took several terrific photos of the birds over the spring of 2024
The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum fabulously filled our field of future vision as Paris 2024 concluded and thoughts of the Olympics soon to come — seriously, 2028 isn't too far-off — danced through our minds.
Or perhaps "pole-vaulted through our minds" is more apt, for the epic sporting venue will again host track and field events, "... becoming the first venue to host the opening ceremony and track and field competitions in three Summer Games."
So. Awesome.
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Something else awesome, though, has been afoot at the location: Some surprising Coliseum residents have been soaring high, higher than any crossbar or the trajectory of a shot put, all while attracting the admiring notice of staffers at the nearby Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.
A pair of red-tailed hawks set up a sizable nest on the north side of the Coliseum, the side that faces the museum's popular Butterfly Pavilion (another place filled with soaring wonders, though its seasonal run will soon conclude).
Science Communicator Moses Aubrey headed out to photograph the Coliseum's winged residents, documenting their time in the air, dramatic face-offs with other birds, and, yes, a couple of fuzzy babies, too.
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The babies were a delightful and surprising sight; museum staffers had seen the adult hawks in 2023 but the pair "had been unsuccessful in raising young."
The museum dubbed the hawks "the Coliseum's newest mascots," fitting and feathery symbols for a location that is synonymous with powerful movement and beauty that stirs the soul.
Take a peek at some of Moses Aubrey's enchanting images and keep an eye out for this avian "apartment in the sky," which is still high on the side of the Coliseum.
The nest is "the size of a small washing machine made of hundreds of sticks," so it shouldn't be too hard to spot.
"It still blows my mind that this all happened in Exposition Park, where tens of thousands of people from all over the world pass this nest unknowingly every day," shared the photographer.
"I'm sure the hawks are not the biggest fans of loud football games and concerts at the Coliseum, but that’s just life in Los Angeles. These hawks are so incredibly resilient and never cease to amaze me!"
Will there be adorable chicks again next year? What about in 2028? Bird lovers, break out those binoculars.
But first, read more about these marvelous new mascots, denizens that seem to know that the eyes of the world will soon be focused on the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
And if you'd like to learn more about UNLAB (Understanding Nature and L.A. Biodiversity), the museum apprenticeship program that the photographer is a part of, start here.
