Tag Archive | raptor

The Raptors’ Return

Feb6
A lousy picture of a rough-legged hawk in a reservoir cottonwood, but still pretty remarkable for a telephone camera! Also, it was good enough for the Merlin Bird ID app to name it correctly, confirming my guess without binoculars.

It’s February! Time for the raptors’ return! Last week I spotted three redtail hawks on power poles on the drive home from town. A couple days later I walked the campground loop at the state park, and we saw a rough-legged hawk, above. In a cottonwood by a ranch house on the road home a bald eagle perched. As I pulled into the driveway a redtail circled over the house. The first true harbinger of spring, the retails’ return. Also, even though it snowed today, yesterday’s high temperature was 57℉. I’ve pulled the first seed packets that need to be planted indoors 8-12 weeks before the last frost. Spring is coming!

This bald eagle image was borrowed from Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s wonderful website, All About Birds. This is an incredible resource for anyone wanting to learn more about the birds they see in the trees, sky, and feeders around them.
We first spotted the rough-legged hawk flying, when it looked like this. Clearly not a redtail. We then saw it later perched in the tree. Image again borrowed from Cornell.

I’m also grateful for those brain docs who offered a free brain-health cooking series. Yesterday I learned to make a tofu scramble that tastes almost like scrambled eggs, along with sweet potato hash (steaming is the secret to cooking them through!), and simple sautéed greens which I seasoned only with a squeeze of rangpur lime. Thanks, Kathy!

Sunday, July 22, morning

Jul22

Flight lessons. Earlier this morning, as I fed the temporary turtle some worms, I heard the screes of the three young redtails that were raised along the river at the mouth of Buck Canyon. Cameraless, I simply watched with delight as all three circled low over me and Mirador, shrieking, soaring, flapping.

About an hour later I heard the birds again. Again three circled and soared, farther up, but this time it was one adult and two juveniles, clearly enjoying their lives. At the same time, Geoff was at Dr. Vincent’s picking up a young hawk that hadn’t quite learned how to make it on her own. Picked up from the roadside, emaciated and unable to move, she found her way to our raptor rehabber down the road.

Peek-a-Bee on St. John’s Wort.

After a beautiful sunny morning, the skies opened this afternoon, flooding the patio again, cooling the air, watering all with a full inch of rain.