Woody Woodpecker is so shy!
He sits on the roof and watches the wild birds on the feeders but will never eat, so I have bought a special woodpecker nut mix in hopes of drawing him in. For now though, he just watches from afar.
Beep-Beep spends much of his days snooping at us through windows. Here he is watching me at my desk as I blog. This was shot through the window so there is some distortion. He was about a foot from my face.
The baby house finches are still caging meals from their parents.
Grosbeaks are new Holler residents.
Hawks always watch over everything, and have never yet gone after any of the birds.
Although they certainly like to watch them closely!
Cheers to you from The Holler’s Audubon garden.
(You really need to click to enlarge these photos to see these beauties close up!) I’ve been busy the last few days taking pics of hawks.
I got to be up close and personal with Harris and Red Tail Hawks, hold, fly them, and photograph them.
In other words, I was in heaven!
Check out the pics of the red tail. Beautiful isn’t he! Next post I’ll introduce you to the Harris Hawks and show you them flying and hunting in tandem. Amazing!
I took these pics at West Coast Falconery which is run by Kirk Selinger a licensed falconer and his apprentice Denise Disharoon. Kirk is a former National Geographic videographer, who now spends his time raising hawks, owls and vultures. He lives in a place just about as remote as The Holler, and we drove down a rutted dirt road to spend some time with him and his gorgeous birds. More pics of the red tail!
This is a seven month old melanistic Red Tailed Hawk. It’s feathers are darker than normal due to excess melanin production.
Here he is having a shower which he loves!
To see Kirk’s operation click on: http://westcoast-falconry.com/falconry-education/west-coast-falconry-san-diego/
The Holler hawks have been very active and flying very close to me lately, so I’ll try to post some shots of them as well. Cheers to you from Hawk Heaven!
The Holler Red Tails are being besieged by the Ravens. As soon as they take flight they are surrounded by flocks of harassing ravens. (Please click photos to enlarge).
They are usually outnumbered at least twenty to one, and you can see the missing flight feathers from their aerial battles. The raven population seems bloated and out of control. I’ve seen this so many places where I travel.
They fight continuously. The hawks hold their own for the most part, despite the disparity in numbers. I wonder how they get time to hunt though, since so much of their time is spent fending off attacks from the ravens.
The ravens are relentless.
Here is an actual attack shot into the sun so it’s not a good photo, but you can see the hawk reeling from the raven’s slam and you can see the raven screaming!
The hawks strategy seems to be to fly extremely high and out-altitude the ravens. The one below is climbing. Occasionally at altitude they dive-bomb back on to an unsuspecting raven. Revenge must be sweet for the hawks.
This one is starting the descent to attack. When they actually start to dive, they tuck their wings and dive-bomb at up to 135mph! Thrilling sight!
Rarely they fly away as you see this one doing.
Often other Red Tails enter the fray to come to a beleagured hawks assistance.
Most hawks carry signs of their battles.
I am, of course, on the hawks side, since the ravens are cowardly bullies, using numbers to overwhelm and harass, but there is nothing I can do, except watch these aerial battles in total fascination.
Speaking of hawks, remember my recent post about invasive windmill farms? My husband sent me this article about the effects of massive windmill farms. Check it out and see what you think. Raptors need our protection too!
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/nov/22/wind-energy-company-pleads-guilty-eagle-deaths/
Cheers to you from out beleagured Holler Hawks!
