There's a family of hawks living in a Coors Field light tower and they'd like to be your best friends
Sure, Coors Field may have a row of seats that's literally a mile high, but the highest seats in the house don't actually belong to any fans.
During the ninth inning of the Rockies' 10-5 loss to the Giants on Saturday afternoon, the Giants' broadcast on CSN Bay Area picked up on a red-tailed hawk circling high above Coors Field. That led to a startling discovery: Perched on the light tower above the scoreboard in left-center was a nest full of hawk chicks.
"We've had a red-tail hawk here since at least 2013," said Kevin Kahn, the Rockies' vice president/chief customer officer -- ballpark operations. "This hawk came on its own and was not brought in by us. A second hawk was noticed last year and we noticed the nest in the left field light tower earlier this year. I believe that the babies hatched sometime in the late April/early May time frame."
Due to the birds' ability to nest in metropolitan areas, they are the most "widespread and familiar large hawk in North American," the National Audubon Society says. They can also live in "open country, woodlands, prairie groves, mountains, plains, roadsides" and enjoy high perches and open ground for hunting -- so, uh, watch your head, Carlos Gonzalez.
Thomas Harding has covered the Rockies since 2000, and for MLB.com since 2002. Follow him on Twitter @harding_at_mlb, listen to podcasts and like his Facebook page.