Showing posts with label Hawk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hawk. Show all posts
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Swarming Crows vs Hawk
Just saw 15 to 20 Crows dive bombing, more like swarming actually, a hawk near a Crows nest. Crows are a family :) and often have older siblings helping at the nest. This Hawk was outnumbered totally!
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Hawk downtown Yelm
Spotted a Hawk flying above McDonald's in downtown Yelm this past weekend. He was enjoying the wind.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Rufous Hummingbird
March 22, 2010
After having my head buzzed with the "engine like" noise of a hummer's wings the day before yesterday (21 March 2010) , I have finally seen the first hummingbird of the year: Rufous. He flew out of the trees and paused at the fronds of an Ocean Spray and Evergreen tree, then flew back into the treeline. Many of the Junco's (12-15) that are usually at my feeders are now absent and for a day were replaced by Stellar's Jay and about seven Crow. Driving, I noticed an adult Bald Eagle circling near the JBLM-McChord Roy gate. It appears that many predators(Hawks and Eagles) have been enjoying the warmer weather, lately. Towards Puyallup and 1/2 way to the South Hill mall exit this weekend I spotted a Hawk, too, circling to the right of the freeway. There were many Robins (6 or 7) ground feeding with Towhee's and a Rock Pigeon yesterday afternoon.
After having my head buzzed with the "engine like" noise of a hummer's wings the day before yesterday (21 March 2010) , I have finally seen the first hummingbird of the year: Rufous. He flew out of the trees and paused at the fronds of an Ocean Spray and Evergreen tree, then flew back into the treeline. Many of the Junco's (12-15) that are usually at my feeders are now absent and for a day were replaced by Stellar's Jay and about seven Crow. Driving, I noticed an adult Bald Eagle circling near the JBLM-McChord Roy gate. It appears that many predators(Hawks and Eagles) have been enjoying the warmer weather, lately. Towards Puyallup and 1/2 way to the South Hill mall exit this weekend I spotted a Hawk, too, circling to the right of the freeway. There were many Robins (6 or 7) ground feeding with Towhee's and a Rock Pigeon yesterday afternoon.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Sunny Day Wednesday
Two very large flocks of geese flew East on Wednesday, December 23, 2009. There were three "V" formations and one small line. Each "V" consisted of about 30 geese and they flew side by side in two V patterns, the smallest line flew in the middle.
Does this mean that these two flocks have different "leaders"?
The Merlin/Hawk was spotted today sitting atop an electric line, in an open area, 1/8 of mile from where he/she was spotted several weeks ago. Still pale grey breast (fluffy today), flat tucked head, long thin tail, very small in stature.
Flying just two blocks North of where I live there were also two Bald Eagles circling less than 1/4 mile away from the Merlin/Hawk.
A robin visited my yard Wednesday, too along with the usual Junco's, Towhee's, Black capped chickadees, and Jays.
There was also a visit from a woodpecker, but he was too high into the trees for me to identify his profile/shadow.
It was great to see the Merlin/Hawk back, especially with the Bald Eagles flying within a very short distance from his perch.
Burien, WA had an episode on the news last night where two Bald Eagles were fighting in someone's residential backyard. I have never heard of Bald Eagles fighting before - so I found that interesting to say the least. The poor homeowner heard the ruckus from inside his home and definitely said that that THUMP wasn't a squirrel! The Bald Eagles were actually duking it out within 2 feet of the homeowners house in his backyard and may have rolled off of the roof fighting!
Does this mean that these two flocks have different "leaders"?
The Merlin/Hawk was spotted today sitting atop an electric line, in an open area, 1/8 of mile from where he/she was spotted several weeks ago. Still pale grey breast (fluffy today), flat tucked head, long thin tail, very small in stature.
Flying just two blocks North of where I live there were also two Bald Eagles circling less than 1/4 mile away from the Merlin/Hawk.
A robin visited my yard Wednesday, too along with the usual Junco's, Towhee's, Black capped chickadees, and Jays.
There was also a visit from a woodpecker, but he was too high into the trees for me to identify his profile/shadow.
It was great to see the Merlin/Hawk back, especially with the Bald Eagles flying within a very short distance from his perch.
Burien, WA had an episode on the news last night where two Bald Eagles were fighting in someone's residential backyard. I have never heard of Bald Eagles fighting before - so I found that interesting to say the least. The poor homeowner heard the ruckus from inside his home and definitely said that that THUMP wasn't a squirrel! The Bald Eagles were actually duking it out within 2 feet of the homeowners house in his backyard and may have rolled off of the roof fighting!
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Merlin or Hawk and migration
BirdWeb's classification system for abundance when left BLANK - "Has occurred less than annually (if at all) in very small numbers or at great intervals." Determinations of abundance or frequency are not solely reflected by a singular birding guide and, in fact, abundance and frequency in general may not be addressed for each of the subspecies of Merlin excepting migration and breeding.
Merlins are commonly found throughout western Washington, including urban areas, in winter and during migration. -BirdWeb
Upon searching the Archives, a post from December 13, 2007, [URL ref: FRG] indicated that Richardson's Merlin in Western Washington is "pretty rare". The Richardson's Merlin was also referenced as the "Prairie Parkland" in this post. [ Boreal ref. Tiaga URL.]
Most posts searched in the Archives reference the Taiga Merlin, a brown colored Merlin, which is decidedly the most common, as is the black in Western Washington. A post from British Columbia ref. "Merlin Prairie Falcon"? I believed the Prairie Falcon to be different from that of a Merlin of three varieties: [ typonymic, subspecific, color description] Prairie - richardsonii, a very light grey; Pacific or Black- suckleyii, and Taiga - columbaris, brown. The Archives and have found 27 references to the Richardson's variety, 76 references to the Taiga variety. The only Archive post for term Merlin suckleyii URL. Merlin Pacific 517 or Merlin Black 1242.
At 12 feet from the bird, my visualization of its wing shape and flight pattern indicated strongly that this bird was not a hawk. But, I could be wrong. I did not get to see his head, eyes or full breast, as his head was tucked and facing away from me and he was quick! He swooped in from either the top of a nearby tree or from above the tree. I did not see him until he was 1/2 of the way down the side of the trunk, 10 feet above the ground. He flew nearly parallel and vertically to the tree trunk where he flew forward 6ft and likely scooped up a Junco 2 ft off of the ground. A small group of 15-20 Junco's were feeding in this lightly treed area. Another group of 10 or so Juncos were feeding 30ft away in another lightly treed, brushy spot. An alert was called that sounded like a Steller's Jay. I thought the alert was due to the squirrel that had wandered inside the group's feeding area. I saw a flash of his underside after he gained my attention, which was fluffy and white on his undertail as he picked up a Junco or ? tip toed and stretched out his legs mid-air for nothing? He then flew sharply to his right 6ft. which was directly in front of me by much less than 12 feet and was 3ft off of the ground. He had smooth feathers on his backside which were a very very light shade of grey. He sharply turned left again for 8ft or so where he finally turned again right picking up altitude all the while from 3ft off of the ground to 5' to 8ft where he flew outside of my vision. I will have to study Sharp-shinned hawks much further, obviously.
There was this recent post from the Archives which held a link for photographs of Merlin's. There are others that were sent to me in emails that I will have to dig out and place links to here, as well as book references for hawks and raptors.
The mapped area presented as a guide on BirdWeb suggest that the migration of (Tiaga) Merlin more closely matches the central area of Washington along the western most portion of the mountain range and does not include a migratory range of Thurston County for the Richardson's variety, but the brown Tiaga migration into "the US, Central America, and northern South America." [Prairie Merlins occur in the state, passing through in migration. -BirdWeb] The Patuxent Center indicates that the Prairie Merlin, "Breeder and resident in prairies of south-central Canada and the upper Midwest of the United States with some moving south to New Mexico." What is 50 miles to a bird that travels from Canada to Central America or Mexico during migration?
Given the little guide information that I have absorbed through 5 birding guides and BirdWeb I can say that the migratory pattern's of the Tiaga Merlin have been studied, somewhat?, whereas the Prairie Richardson's variety has not much information on migration in the birding guides. I will have to keep studying to determine. It it also good to note that the varieties interbreed in Canada. [ref. Canada, Merlin, TWET].
[*Contrary to BirdWeb, the Merlin is not Uncommon West of the Cascades per Tweeters Alerts Admin. Nov. 14, 2009 http://www.birdweb.org/birdweb/bird_details.aspx?value=search&id=112
UNCOMMON meaning=" Found in small numbers, and usually—but not always—found with some effort in appropriate habitat at the right time of year".]
Merlins are commonly found throughout western Washington, including urban areas, in winter and during migration. -BirdWeb
Upon searching the Archives, a post from December 13, 2007, [URL ref: FRG] indicated that Richardson's Merlin in Western Washington is "pretty rare". The Richardson's Merlin was also referenced as the "Prairie Parkland" in this post. [ Boreal ref. Tiaga URL.]
Most posts searched in the Archives reference the Taiga Merlin, a brown colored Merlin, which is decidedly the most common, as is the black in Western Washington. A post from British Columbia ref. "Merlin Prairie Falcon"? I believed the Prairie Falcon to be different from that of a Merlin of three varieties: [ typonymic, subspecific, color description] Prairie - richardsonii, a very light grey; Pacific or Black- suckleyii, and Taiga - columbaris, brown. The Archives and have found 27 references to the Richardson's variety, 76 references to the Taiga variety. The only Archive post for term Merlin suckleyii URL. Merlin Pacific 517 or Merlin Black 1242.
At 12 feet from the bird, my visualization of its wing shape and flight pattern indicated strongly that this bird was not a hawk. But, I could be wrong. I did not get to see his head, eyes or full breast, as his head was tucked and facing away from me and he was quick! He swooped in from either the top of a nearby tree or from above the tree. I did not see him until he was 1/2 of the way down the side of the trunk, 10 feet above the ground. He flew nearly parallel and vertically to the tree trunk where he flew forward 6ft and likely scooped up a Junco 2 ft off of the ground. A small group of 15-20 Junco's were feeding in this lightly treed area. Another group of 10 or so Juncos were feeding 30ft away in another lightly treed, brushy spot. An alert was called that sounded like a Steller's Jay. I thought the alert was due to the squirrel that had wandered inside the group's feeding area. I saw a flash of his underside after he gained my attention, which was fluffy and white on his undertail as he picked up a Junco or ? tip toed and stretched out his legs mid-air for nothing? He then flew sharply to his right 6ft. which was directly in front of me by much less than 12 feet and was 3ft off of the ground. He had smooth feathers on his backside which were a very very light shade of grey. He sharply turned left again for 8ft or so where he finally turned again right picking up altitude all the while from 3ft off of the ground to 5' to 8ft where he flew outside of my vision. I will have to study Sharp-shinned hawks much further, obviously.
"To get a positive ID, you'd need to see all five tails bands (all five bordered by dark), the presence of anterior barring on the outermost primary and complete barring on the second most distal spot on the posterior vane of the outermost primary."
"Wheeler and Clark's Photographic Guide lists male sharp-shinned's as being 9-11 inches long, and weighing 3-4 ounces. They show a nice picture of the back view on page 34, photo SS05."
"Kate Davis, Falcons of North America (2008) lists a male Merlin as 9 to 11 inches long as well, and weighs 5.6 to 6 ounces. So if one were looking for the smaller of the two, the sharp-shinned actually weighs a good bit less."
There was this recent post from the Archives which held a link for photographs of Merlin's. There are others that were sent to me in emails that I will have to dig out and place links to here, as well as book references for hawks and raptors.
- "Hawks in Flight" URL
- Raptors of western North America by Brian K Wheeler, Princeton University Press
- Kate Davis, Falcons of North America (2008)
The mapped area presented as a guide on BirdWeb suggest that the migration of (Tiaga) Merlin more closely matches the central area of Washington along the western most portion of the mountain range and does not include a migratory range of Thurston County for the Richardson's variety, but the brown Tiaga migration into "the US, Central America, and northern South America." [Prairie Merlins occur in the state, passing through in migration. -BirdWeb] The Patuxent Center indicates that the Prairie Merlin, "Breeder and resident in prairies of south-central Canada and the upper Midwest of the United States with some moving south to New Mexico." What is 50 miles to a bird that travels from Canada to Central America or Mexico during migration?
Given the little guide information that I have absorbed through 5 birding guides and BirdWeb I can say that the migratory pattern's of the Tiaga Merlin have been studied, somewhat?, whereas the Prairie Richardson's variety has not much information on migration in the birding guides. I will have to keep studying to determine. It it also good to note that the varieties interbreed in Canada. [ref. Canada, Merlin, TWET].
[*Contrary to BirdWeb, the Merlin is not Uncommon West of the Cascades per Tweeters Alerts Admin. Nov. 14, 2009 http://www.birdweb.org/birdweb/bird_details.aspx?value=search&id=112
UNCOMMON meaning=" Found in small numbers, and usually—but not always—found with some effort in appropriate habitat at the right time of year".]
Friday, May 22, 2009
Hawk or Falcon
Flying East to West a hawk soared by yesterday, but he was too far away to get good detail. His head was tucked under, his tail was not very long and he was brown overall. He was a medium sized hawk or falcon not smallish, but not one of the largest either.
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