Our Cooper's Hawk

[Bugbear]

Very cool. We have a peregrine falcon that hunts our yard (2 acres, downtown Jefferson) by day, and barred owls and barn owls that hunt it by night. Birds of prey in town are reassuring, but I have not heard the bobwhites in a while now.....

Not to worry though, there are tons of squirrels, song birds, snakes, lizards and the like.

Just so they stay out of my koi pond, though.

I think I have heard a hawk screaching out over the desert down the street; not sure what else would make that sound. We also have owls, and of course, bats.

There is a large, crow -like black bird that lives in one of my palm trees; I forget which kind of bird it is.

I am growing blue corn this year, and I might save an ear to put in a feeder at the top of a tall pole for him. He likes to fly over several times and caw when I'm working in my back yard.

[Pleater]

My back garden is about the size of two handkerchieves, but just this afternoon I noticed the robin and some great-tits were in the apple trees. The thrushes and blackbirds are collecting nest materials, the wood pigeons have been around. I hear owls and foxes at night, and one fox took shelter under the trampoline for a while.

Last autumn the goldfinches were in the gardens along with other seedeaters, and all those buzy pecking holes in the apples, so despite its size it gets a lot of avian visitors to collect what there is on offer.

Sometimes there is a grey squirrel on the fence, but I go out and scare it off whenever I can.

Is it my imagination or weren't hawks carried on the right hand in 12/13th Century England - particularly when flown from horseback - as the left hand was used to hold the reins.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[mull]

Is it my imagination or weren't hawks carried on the right hand in 12/13th Century England - particularly when flown from horseback - as the left hand was used to hold the reins.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

While I was not there, most old paintings I have seen show the bird on the left glove. Manipilating the jesses and handling the bird requires a fair bit of dexterity and most find it easier to use their dominate hand to do so while the bird sits on the off hand.

Joe

[MacBean]

There is a large, crow -like black bird that lives in one of my palm trees; I forget which kind of bird it is.

Is the bird quite musical? If so, then it is a long-tailed grackle. They are everywhere in the southwest.

[Bugbear]

Is the bird quite musical? If so, then it is a long-tailed grackle. They are everywhere in the southwest.

Oh, no. This is much, much bigger than a grackle. Probably bigger than a crow, though sounds a bit like the caw of a crow. They catch baby pidgins and small birds, hold them in one claw, and peck and bite them to death. Someone told me once that they are abundent down in Mexico, but I'm not sure.

Perhaps I will look into what kind of bird that is; I haven't been much interested in birds. He has flown right over my head and I can tell that he is a very large bird.

* I'm really not sure how to identify birds, so I'm having a little difficulty searching on the web. *

* I finally figured out that they are ravens. End of mystery. *