Ok, I’m going to ignore the road kill I was going to write about (poor motherless racoon babies) and skip on to the Red Tailed Hawks.
But first, a reality check.
This is what eventually happens to all empty fields around here.
Note: To view all the photos in this blog entry as a slide show, click on one of the photos and use right and left arrow keys to move through images.
Ok, now for the Hawks.
I’ve been noticing that different birds hang out in the field at the top of the hill, than in the trees around my house. The other day I saw what I thought might be a hawk, perched on one of those large round hay bails. It was too far away and my photos didn’t show it, but I thought if I watched for it, I might see it again. A friend told me once, if you want to see birds of prey, look up.
So, this morning as I came up the hill toward the empty field, I looked up. Sure enough, there was a hawk perched on a street light.
It flew off before I got my camera out, but I got a good look at it, and it was definitely not a pigeon!
As I walked on a little further, I realized there were 2 large birds perched on top of a double sided billboard. One at either end. One flew off and I took some photos of the other before it also flew away.
(The bird is on the top of the sign, the lower item is a light, not a bird. The bright glow is the sun coming up in the eastern sky.)
I had to get going to make sure I didn’t miss the bus, but as I looked back I saw that one of the birds had perched again.
Ok, fast forward, homeward bound, just before sunset.
Couldn’t wait to see if the hawks would be there again. Hard to imagine I’d been walking right past them all this time and never noticed before.
I walked my bike across the corner of the field, choosing my path very carefully. The first time I tried bike/bus commuting last fall, I cut the corner of the field only to later discover an uncovered manhole, revealed after the grass had been mowed. Yikes!
The crows have been frequenting the field and reluctantly flew off when I approached them.
Sure enough! another hawk, flew in, circled, perched on the sign, on the lower part this time. Then it took off and flew toward a patch of trees on the far side of the field.
So, what do y’all out there think? Red Tailed Hawks, yes or no?
Here is a link to some great photos of Red Tailed Hawks in the Wikipedia.
more about Red Tailed Hawks
