Kodak Falcon Watch? Not Quite: 12:00 - 12:40

The past three days have found me at one of Kodak's satellite offices west of downtown, near the old Elmgrove facility, where I've been conducting some training classes. A small pond fronts the building, and it's bordered by a bit of old woods. Driving home on Tuesday, I watched a Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) fly low over the driveway and land in a tree next to the pond. I'd have had a great picture of the bird, had I bothered to bring a camera with me...

Today I packed binoculars, field guide and camera. When lunch came, I headed out into the windy cool air for a bit of birding. The watch began as I approached the pond. Red-winged Blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) called to each other from the trees, while a Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) rested at the pond's edge:

The goose decided to go for a swim, and paddled out into the pond:


Just as I was thinking the watch was going to be a prosaic affair, things started to get interesting. The action began with a Coopers Hawk (Accipiter cooperii) that flew across my field of view at tree-top level. Regrettably, I was so entranced by the view in my binoculars that I didn't get any pictures. I made up for that deficit when the next raptor appeared, though.

There were a pair of very aggressive crows in the area, so when a juvenile Red-tail Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) flew into the area, the crows wasted no time before moving into harrassment mode:


Here's a shot I took just as a crow made its attack pass:


After that, the crows took a break, and the buteo spent some time floating on the stiff breezes:

It played in the wind, tucking in it's wings to drop through the air before rising again:




Before too long, the crows resumed their offensive, double-teaming the hapless hawk:

The crows were relentless, and before long they had pushed the hawk far to the northeast, and out of my view. My time was up too, so I packed up my equipment and headed back inside for my afternoon class. There's always an opportunity for birding, but then you probably already knew that...