hawk season is back!

upper lobe - hawk flew in, perched on tree across
follow - pass group
2 flying low - adult chasing off juvie?
2 guys come over
i follow
i give up

meadow - stray dog episode
ugh

head over to the oven

2 guys come by again, heads up about azalea pond

pond - redtail on branch

redtail flies to branch across the path
redtail flies to rock in pond

coopers hawk in tree above him!  hahahahaha, he looks pissed!  awesomeness!

redtail flies away while i'm showing the coopers to bicycle hawk loving guy
coopers flies away

okay, oven
good

something large and interesting flies out, I try to follow it and find it on the point but i don't see anything

feeders

walking along toward stone benchlet, vaguely thinking food and dk would be a great idea

sit on rocks for a few to check email, message elizabeth back

coopers hawk flies in!  perches, but smoker dude flushes him

follow

run into non binoc birder dude who talks a little like mr rogers

he really wants the yellow throated vireo.  whatever.  i'm not into it.

now he is getting a touch clingy.

luckily that other beginner guy is there too

he takes us over to the magic tree on the point.

on the way, as he's explaining that nothing exciting happens on the point, cooper's hawk!  hahahahaha, what incredibly perfect timing!

he flies off pretty quickly, we lose him

magical tree

wood ducks and green wing teal

the magical tree really is quite something

dude leaves.  thank you.

slowly leaving on the dirt path, making sure he has plenty of time so i don't run into him
here he comes, to get me to possibly see a hummingbird at the oven
ok, fine
oven

no hummingbird but it is gorgeous.  this guy is starting to get annoying.

something large lands heavily - we have no idea what
i see the hawk on the ground!
eventually the blue jays come around to harass it at length
i see it in a branch and watch it for a while, i lose it again
merlin / kestrel / something flies over to the right
this dude is not nearly as good at id-ing birds as he thinks he is
i have become totally spoiled, which is sort of a mixed bag.  i am impatient to become a bad-ass
eventually i find it again, dude finally leaves
hawk starts roosting instead of standing on its legs
its totally flattened against the log
birder new ranger guy came over, i showed him, he eventually saw the hawk, it's a juvenile red-tail
yay!  :-)

okay, he looks pretty much settled in, i'm going around to the point to see if i can get a better angle on it




point, no, i can't find it at all.  like, at all.
german (?) tourist  :-)

back to oven to see if i can find him again.  i'm hawk obsessed today.  i mean, even more than usual.

before i look, other birder guy comes over with one or two others, i tell him there was a hawk here earlier, he's surprised.  

i can't find him

oh well.  this other guy seems like a good guy, not nearly as clingy as non binoc mr rogers guy

dude.  i really need some food.  maybe i should just head out.

i wander through, taking my time before going.

good

finally back at upper lobe, on the bridge, a predator of some sort (smaller than a red tail i think) does a flyover - couple of circles, the he's outta there.  what a great good-bye for today!  :-)

also.  dude.  why do people feed squirrels?  sometimes i think i fundamentally don't get some of these birders.  are they confused between wildlife and pets?  do they think they're helping?  although i think the feeders are a good idea, so i'm not really consistent either.  oh well.