Hunting Balboa

 

Red-tailed Hawk, Balboa Natural Area

One of these days I'll have to plan a trip to the Balboa Natural Area to spend a lot more time there than I do when I stop by on my bike rides. I only stopped for a minute yesterday because I saw that Balboa Blue, the great blue heron, was on the scene. The minute stretched out to just over 25 minutes as I watched to compare hunting success between the heron and the hawk.

After the hawk's first pounce turned up nothing much (I couldn't tell if it ate a bug), it flew to a new perch, flapping its wings right over the heron, which reflexively ducked its head.

In the time I was there, the hawk made four pounces, none of which turned up anything I could see. The heron? Zero, zilch, nada. 

P.S. Interesting tidbit I read this morning in Wired: "In 2024, the total installed electricity capacity of the planet -- every coal, gas, hydro, and nuclear plant and all of the renewables -- was about 10 terawatts. The Chinese solar supply chain can now pump out 1 terawatt of panels every year."

While out for a walk, I watched this crow drop a piece of bread in a bowl of dog water. It walked away for maybe half a minute before returning to get the now-soggy and easier-to-consume treat.

Coming up empty on the first pounce.

Listening for Prey

Another pounce, another miss.

It wasn't sunny enough for the sourgrass flowers to open up, and I guess the gophers and other such critters were laying low too.

I wondered what would happen if the hawk saw the heron catch a gopher.

The heron gave up hunting in its previous spot, then flew to another hunting grounds not too far away.

After the hawk's fourth pounce I realized I was getting cold and my leg muscles were getting stiff, so I got back on the bike to head home. Note the lack of leg band on this hawk; I haven't seen Bando here in quite a while.

On the way home, I stopped by the Mediterranean buckthorn at South Lake to check the progress of the red-breasted sapsucker. There are many more holes since I first saw him there! (And that upside-down berry is not an optical illusion; it really is growing up from the branch.)

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