I went to Hawk Watch on 1/5/2019 in Ramona CA, courtesy of the Wildlife Research Institute.
In my 63 years 9 months and 26 days on Earth, it ranks as one of the Top 10 most interesting things I have ever done. Got to see gyrfalcon, pygmy falcon, peregrine falcon, American kestrel, ferruginous hawk, and red-tailed hawk.
I got bopped on the head by the wings of a diving peregrine falcon. Afterwards, we had a field trip where I got to see my first bald eagle nest in the wild and a juvenile bald eagle in the wild.
I took 458 pictures, so it will take me a little while to catalog all of them. Here are two pictures of the gyrfalcon, the largest of the falcons and, as far as I’m concerned, the most beautiful. It’s from the Arctic.
Hawk Watch occurs every weekend in January and February, and next Saturday, 1/12/2019, all those birds will be back, accompanied by some owls, including a Great Horned Owl. I guess you know where I will be next Saturday.
What a wonderful outing. Raptors are my favorite birds. I’m a bit jealous. 🙂
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I love raptors. I think my love comes from the back yard of my wise old grandmother’s house in Kingsville, Texas. We had a great horned owl that lived in the hackberry tree for many years. Sadly, Hurricane Beulah in September 1967 uprooted the hackberry. Never saw that owl again. In fact, that was the last great horned owl I have ever seen in person, zoos and wildlife sanctuaries included.
We also had woodpeckers in the ash tree so I built a woodpecker box. It was immediately taken over my a nesting pair of screech owls. Those screech owls still were raising young ones in that woodpecker box ten years later.
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Fantastic experience.
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Just had a young red tail hawk peer in our windows twice today from a nearby oak branch – gorgeous creature!
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I am available for adoption. I come with a dowery.
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