Tag Archives: Harris hawks

Class is in session!

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A Harris Hawk landed on our pergola Monday.

Monday was my first day of photography class that I’m taking through Maricopa County Community College. I was worried over the weekend, because when I clicked on my class schedule there was no time specified for class. I called my daughter and she explained that if no day or time is listed, it’s “asynchronous.” I learned a new word. Since she works as an academic advisor at UC Berkeley, I figured she knows what she’s talking about.

It’s an online class where there are due dates for quizzes and assignments, but you are free to work at your own pace, when you want.

I spent an hour or two reading the syllabus, module one of my class and I went through a tutorial on how to use their online system. I have two quizzes due by the weekend and we’re required to get 100%. Wow, I’m not sure what I signed up for!

Besides my first day of class Monday, a quail flew into our sliding glass door and lost his life. As he was down for the count, a number of carnivore hawks arrived to survey the scene.

I got lots of photography practice as they flew up to the pergola, to a tree, to the fence and rotated around the yard. Eventually, I left the scene and when I came back there was a pile of feathers from the quail on the patio and the carnivores had left.

Seven Harris Hawks on the fence.

This guy was getting close to the poor quail.

Have you taken online classes where you work at your own pace?

What classes have you taken for your own personal enrichment?

Taking a Hawkish Break

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Yesterday morning I took a few minutes from my super busy week to capture Harris Hawks on a Century plant. I was so excited to see them. There were three altogether. This is the final picture of my series when one was alone.

I spotted three Harris Hawks out the window. I let myself out of the casita on the opposite end of the house and quietly and stealthily made my way along the house hiding in corners. I snapped photos, while behind a pillar support for our patio overhang. Then I made it to one support even closer. Eventually, I sat down smack dab in plain sight at an outside table across from them.

The top hawk took off before I could get a picture. This is second hawk I caught in flight. Look at how aerodynamic his wings are.

Second hawk landed on the wall.

Here’s my first photo from a greater distance away, catching all three hawks on a Century Plant.

The moments outside photographing hawks broke up my super busy week, which I wrote a bit about HERE. The time in my backyard with the hawks charged me up for my last busy day of the week. I’m ready for a break now!

What helps you get through a busy day or week?

How do you relax and recharge?

More hawks

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The other morning, my husband saw seven Harris hawks in a tree in our backyard. By the time I got there, they were all gone. But a little later, this guy was hanging out on the fence. It’s quite a sight to see the quail take off like jets when the hawks appear.

Here’s the photo of the hawks in a tree that my husband took with his iphone. Not all seven made it in the photo.

It’s kind of hard to see them, but my husband said the three hawks on the right side were busy eating prey. I walked out later to the tree to see if what they had been eating in the tree, but there was nothing left.

I’m excited for my photography class which begins in January and runs through May. I ordered the text book on Amazon and it arrived this week. It’s a paperback called “A Short Course in Digital Photography.” The community college where I’m taking my class wanted $175 for it. I bought it for $50 on Amazon. I don’t think it’s right how much colleges charge for textbooks.

This is as close as I’ve gotten to catch a hawk in flight. He took off so fast and was out of my range.

Later in the day, my husband and I went for a walk. Walking out the front door, I noticed seven hawks in a tree in our front yard. We scared them away. It was spectacular to see them in flight, but there was no way could I get a photo.

What are your thoughts about the price of college text books?

A Hawkish Day

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I had a visitor for most of yesterday. The visit began early in the morning as I was writing my morning pages. I kept seeing a huge shadow swooping past the casita window. It had to be my Harris Hawk.

He landed on the fence and kept watch.

I went for a walk and came back home to discover the hawk was no longer on the fence.

Instead he landed in a tree.

As I was writing this post, he began to call for a friend

Flying by our window a second hawk screeched with talons outstretched, wings spread wide, five feet off the ground, going in for the kill. He flew over the fence into the bushes. I missed the action.

Eventually, the second hawk settled into the tree. Behind a branch with the other hawk.

Can you spot the two hawks in the tree?

I watched in awe as a hummingbird landed on hawk number one’s head. The second hawk was attacked by smaller birds including house finches. The little birds are not fans of hawks. The quail are keeping away. They must be prime targets of the hawks.

And then there were three.

One hawk is hidden from view, preferring the other side of the tree.

I signed up for an intro to digital photography class through Maricopa Community Colleges. The class begins late January and runs through May. I hope my hawks are around to model for my class.

Here’s a LINK to the Harris Hawk’s call from Cornel l Lab All About Birds website.

What are your favorite birds to watch?

Zoom, zoom, zoom

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My weekly zoom call was interrupted yesterday by four majestic Harris Hawks. Here are two of them. There were two more in a tree.

Thursday was busy. It was the day after our house guest left. I woke up early to get the house ready for my cleaning lady. She usually comes after 2 p.m. but she asked to come in the morning. But I had neighborhood coffee group followed by my weekly zoom call in the morning. I had to have the house picked up and garbage out before I left for coffee.

Neighborhood coffee is a casual group of neighbors who meet the first Thursday of the month. We meet at local cafes and take turns choosing the location. What was funny about this meeting was the women’s coffee group was seated at a table next to the men’s group. That has never happened before. Also, we had six women, but the men had a dozen. I wonder what they talk about?

My weekly zoom call consists of a group of people from Alaska, California to New Jersey and in between. We talk about all the stuff people usually avoid. Politics, religion and current events. The group has Republicans and Democrats and discussions are polite and civil. I’m learning a lot about history and world politics from very intelligent people. There are two neurosurgeons in the group, other doctors, lawyers, a woman mayor of a Southern California city, and a man who ran a bond desk on Wall Street. Yesterday there were 14 people on the call, which was a big group and interesting to hear their points of view.

It’s refreshing although at times exhausting. The group leader keeps us all in line. He sends us material during the week to discuss during the call. He has a plan for the day and asks each of us questions, with the point at the end, “What is the truth?”

I was sitting in the casita by the window while on the zoom call. Then bam! A hawk hit the window scaring me to death. Then I saw hawks swooping through the yard, chasing quail. I guess I’m responsible for that, because I put bird seed out for quail, which attracts the predators.

Then I took a break from zoom taking photos through the casita window.

Now my guests are gone, my house is clean, and my social activities are over. No more zooming around! Remember “Orange is the New Black?” Well, this week, Friday is the New Saturday!

Have a great weekend. Do you have any special plans?

Happy Bird Day!

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This owl was hanging out in a tree all day and then before sunset moved to the fence.

It was awe inspiring to spot an owl in the tree outside our bedroom. I spent a great deal of time observing him. He’s a Great Horned Owl and he could spin his head around to look at us.

This was where the owl hung out most of the day. I’m looking out our bedroom sliding glass door.

Then something surprising happened. A battle of the raptors began with Harris Hawks appearing on a tree, then the fence.

The hawks moved from the tree to the fence. Five hawks strategically perched on the fence on both sides of the owl. The owl was surrounded. Talk about intimidation!

The owl gave up and flew away. Harris Hawks for the win.

I looked up owls and hawks and it turns out they are both fierce predators and don’t usually interact with each other. Let’s just say they don’t get along and they like the same prey.

Here are some links if you want to read more details about hawks and owls:

Hawks vs. Owls: A Face-Off Between Two Powerful Birds
https://www.wildbirdscoop.com/hawks-vs-owls.html

Hawk Vs. Owl: 15 Comparisons
https://birdchronicle.com/hawk-vs-owl/

Next time, I’d like to share better, clearer photos! I haven’t used my Nikon since we moved and it’s been tucked away in my closet. I’ll try taking photos with the camera versus my iphone and see which looks better.

So…the owl came back. I took photos with my Nikon and they are dramatically better! However, I’m not able to transfer them from my camera to my laptop or phone. The camera software is not compatible with either. Even after downloading new apps from Nikon, I couldn’t get it to work. I ordered a card reader which according to You Tubers is the easiest method. I’ll share the new photos soon!

This is a video of the last of the Harris Hawks flying off our neighbor’s chimney after they scared away the owl.

Which do you find more fascinating and why? Great Horned Owls or Harris Hawks?

Are you Team Owl or Team Hawk?

Metamorphosis from sick to health

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Harris hawks hanging out on an Agave behind the tree in our backyard on New Year’s Eve.

I feel like I’m emerging from 11 days of cocooning. I’m not quite a butterfly yet, but I can breathe and stretch my wings after a nasty bug that kept me in bed.

The day is bright and sunny. Absolutely stunning. The past few days have been cloudy and my weather app said air quality wasn’t good.

Here’s a clear view of the perch the hawks enjoyed on New Year’s Eve. Look at that sky!

At one point, there were five Harris hawks hanging out together.

During my cocoon phase, I listened to an outstanding book. Ann Patchett’s “Tom Lake.” It was published August 2023. I enjoy reading books the old fashioned way with paper pages and spines. However, because I was laying in bed with my eyes closed, propped up on pillows for my deep cough, I chose listening to an audiobook.

Meryl Streep was the reader! I could distinguish characters, not by a big change in her voice, but by subtle rhythms and intonations. I believe her reading added to the book so the experience was better than it would have been if I had held the book in my hands and used my eyes.

Here’s a summary from Amazon:

In this beautiful and moving novel about family, love, and growing up, Ann Patchett once again proves herself one of America’s finest writers.

“Patchett leads us to a truth that feels like life rather than literature.” —The Guardian

In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family’s orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.

Tom Lake is a meditation on youthful love, married love, and the lives parents have led before their children were born. Both hopeful and elegiac, it explores what it means to be happy even when the world is falling apart. As in all of her novels, Ann Patchett combines compelling narrative artistry with piercing insights into family dynamics. The result is a rich and luminous story, told with profound intelligence and emotional subtlety, that demonstrates once again why she is one of the most revered and acclaimed literary talents working today.

amazon.com

I have one major question in the story that wasn’t resolved after going to back to re-listen to certain chapters. I won’t ask that question here, because it’s a spoiler. I’m waiting for someone else to read the book so we can discuss. I wonder if Patchett left this question unanswered on purpose?

Here’s a 10-second video of the hawks leaving my yard:

Hawks.

Do you like listening to audiobooks, using a reader or old-fashioned books?

Have you read “Tom Lake?” If so, what are your thoughts?