This past weekend was the tease of March – spring-like weather that gives us false hope that spring is near. I suppose it is near for many, but not for me in my area of upstate New York! I will not be seeing spring weather again until late April, aside from a few similar days here and there like I just experienced. I tried to fit birds into a very busy weekend with some success. On Saturday, I watched my friends fly their Red-tailed Hawk, Rusty.
Rusty the Red-tailed Hawk
Zack, Jenn and Rusty
He is a very handsome Hawk, but unfortunately looks won’t get him live food and he was not very into hunting that day. Could be that he wanted to enjoy the great weather too! He was eventually fed from his lure instead.
Rusty eating from his lure
Yes, that is a foot hanging out of his mouth. And he made a big mess when he gulped down a huge piece of the chick.
Rusty the Red-tailed Hawk
On Sunday, I went out to put up some nesting boxes around my yard. I could hear geese overhead, so I looked up.
Goose Migration
The skies were full of migrating geese! Thousands of Canada Geese passed by as well as Snow Geese. It was hard to keep my eyes off the sky! I also saw many Blackbirds and Gulls passing through, quickly riding the winds. There were other individual birds flying by who were going to quick for me to identify. They are also very high up for me in the valley.
Mixed Goose Flock, with Canadas and Snow
My resident Red-tailed Hawks were out gathering nesting material.
Resident Red-tailed Hawk
There were so many geese in the sky that I accidentally got this photo too.
Red-tailed Hawk with Geese in the background
I took a nice walk down my trails to see if I could find anything interesting. Birds were singing high in the trees, but none were low enough to photograph. I did find some other non-living things of interest: the Pileated Woodpeckers have been busy this winter.
Evidence of my resident Pileated Woodpeckers
Someone is digging up the holes that foxes used a couple of summers ago. Chances are that this is from groundhogs, but I can hope that my foxes are returning, can’t I???
Fresh Fox or Groundhog digging
The very last sighting I had on my trails was a good one! I finally found one of the feeders that the bears stole last time they raided my yard. It was still frozen into the ground, so I will recover it when the ground has thawed.
The feeder that bears stole in the Fall
Back at the feeders, I caught one of my Red-breasted Nuthatches holding on in the winds. He’s not very shy, so he stayed put as I went by.
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Not a bad weekend for birds. Spring is on its way!
I always keep an eye on my flocks of Common Redpolls that show up in hopes of finding the more rare Hoary migrant. I had some false alarms in the past, but when I saw one for the first time, I just knew it was a Hoary.
My first Hoary Redpoll, re-posted
This frosty bird caught my eye and I was lucky to snap a few photos before he disappeared into the flock of over 100 Redpolls. I failed to relocate him again. Ever since, I put my binoculars up at any Redpoll that seems frosty, but it is always just my eyes playing tricks on me due to the lighting and reflection of the snow on the ground. I figured that this was a one-time sighting for the season.
Today, however, I noticed another frosty bird that was not quite like the others. I immediately grabbed my binoculars and the flash of a white-rump flew away. It flew back into my hanging tray feeder and then flew away quickly. I set my camera up to try to get it, but the bird was just too quick. While all of the Common Redpolls would stick around, this one would grab a seed and run. It kept flying up to a pine that borders the woods and eventually made it’s way into my closer tree. I snapped a few shots so that I could prove my ID. They came out a bit out-of-focus but are usable.
My second Hoary Redpoll
Extremely frosty on the back, thin streaking, small red cap, stubby bill, white undertail coverts and a whiter rump. I determined this to be a first year Hoary due to the buffy cheeks. I had high hopes that it would stick around because, even when the Commons left, it would continue to go back and forth from the tray to the pine.
And then all of the birds hurried away and a somewhat larger bird came in, chasing what looked like my Hoary Redpoll. The Redpoll got away and the predator perched in a tree.
Sharp-shinned Hawk
It was a Sharp-shinned Hawk in transitional plumage. The Accipiters that I get usually fly away at the slightest motion from inside but this one would not budge. I even went out on my deck and it didn’t mind. The Hawk stayed perched in my tree as some of the smaller birds started to return. It made another attempt at a Chickadee, missed and flew off.
The larger flock of Redpolls, including the Hoary, have not returned since.
If you pay attention to birds, chances are you’ve seen a Hawk get attacked by birds that are much smaller than itself – typically Blackbirds, Grackles, Crows and Jays. Chickadees even work up the courage to crowd around Owls! This behavior is called mobbing. It occurs when species of birds band together to attack a larger bird, usually in an attempt to protect their nest or territory.
I always know when a Hawk is around my neighborhood – the local Crows are almost always pairing up and chasing it away. My view is typically of either birds hidden in a tree or high-tailing it out of the area. Early last summer, however, I had a front row seat of blackbirds mobbing a Red-tailed Hawk at Cornell’s Sapsucker Woods. This resulted in some pretty good photos of the action!
Red-tailed Hawk being mobbed by a Common Grackle
Red-tailed Hawk being mobbed by a Red-winged Blackbird
I even caught one where the Blackbird has his feet and beak on the Hawk!
Red-tailed Hawk being mobbed by a Red-winged Blackbird
While this perch was great for me and my photos, it was not the best choice for the Hawk who kept losing balance.
Red-tailed Hawk loosing balance
Though, even on a more stable perch, he had to dodge the incoming mob.
Red-tailed Hawk dodging incoming birds
This group included Red-winged Blackbirds, Common Grackles, American Crows and even Squirrels. If you look closesly at the photo below, the Squirrel is below her nest!
Red-tailed Hawk being mobbed by a Crow and Squirrel
The Hawk eventually broke away with a crowd of over twenty birds following it.
This was not the only time I witnessed such behavior up close – the next victims were even larger than the Red-tail! Bald Eagles were nesting on a platform out in the open on the north end of Cayuga Lake in New York. I went up to go visit them just as the young Eagles fledged. In fact, according to regulars who were there, I witnessed one of the Eagle’s first flights! The local blackbirds did not make it easy for the fledged Eagles to practice. As soon as they would take flight, the smaller birds would come in.
Young Bald Eagle being mobbed by a Red-winged Blackbird
This was the first time I witnessed smaller birds riding on the backs of larger birds! It was a great treat! With some luck, I captured two different angles of this behavior.
Young Bald Eagle with a Red-winged Blackbird on his back
Young Bald Eagle with a Red-winged Blackbird on his back
These little birds are very fearless. I sometimes even see just one bird mobbing a Hawk all alone. Anything to protect their territory!
Last weekend, I had the pleasure of photographing some of my friends’ birds. It was great to be able to be so close to such beautiful raptors and watch them in action.
On both days, we hunted with Rogue, a young Harris Hawk. Rogue is a very ambitious hawk who goes after prey that is larger than herself. She caught her second turkey within a month and even went after a Great Blue Heron! We were all happy that she did not catch up to the heron who hurried away.
Rogue, a young Harris Hawk still in juvenile plumage.
Rogue on the lookout for prey.
Rogue taking off from a fence post.
Rogue had the catch of the weekend – this turkey was flushed out accidentally and Rogue pursued her. We eventually caught up a half hour later to find that Rogue had killed the turkey on her own.
Two new friends that I just met had Red-tail Hawks. Even though we did not catch any prey with these birds, they gave us quite a show!
Nyx, a young Red-tail Hawk, in search of prey.
Isis, a year old Red-tail Hawk posing for the camera.
Pauline and Isis across the field.
I still have yet to see Meg, a Gyrfalcon+Saker Falcon hybrid hunt, but I did watch a few training flights. This beautiful falcon got her name from how large she is, because she is, indeed, a Meg[a] Falcon!
Meg, a beautiful Gyrfalcon/Saker Falcon Hybrid.
Meg taking flight as sunset approaches.
Meg in flight.
Meg going after her lure during a training session.
My friend who introduced me to the world of Falconry recently caught her Hawk, Rusty. I did not see Rusty fly during this event, but I did meet him a couple of days before during a training session.
Rusty was also at the meet, however, this photo was taken a couple of days before it.
Rusty giving me a silly bird-face.
After chasing wild birds all the time, it is great to see and photograph some raptors up close. I even held a Merlin for a while. The bird is so tiny that holding her for over an hour was not tiring at all.
