 |
| Cooper's Hawk, Golden Gate Park |
It's so rare that I get to see Cooper's hawks up close that I decided to head down to the AIDS Memorial/Lily Pond area again this morning. (A phalanx of joggers trundled by while I was in the woods above the pond when one guy asked another, "What do they call that down there?" The other guy said, "It's called 'Random Swamp'. There's a bunch of 'em.")
The hawks were fairly easy to spot since they were calling out so often. They must hold their counsel once they reach adulthood. Although red-shouldered and red-tailed hawks can be heard screeching year round, I almost never hear an adult cooper's hawk, with the exception being around nesting season. Last spring I heard a pair in a tall redwood across from Mallard Lake, but it was not the same sound made by the begging juveniles.
This morning I stuck around longer in the hope of seeing an adult bring the juveniles some prey to share, but that never happened. One of the young hawks went after a squirrel, but the squirrel darted about and escaped up an oak tree. A little later the same hawk dove after a black phoebe, but that one also got away. A few minutes after the foiled phoebe foray, another squirrel ambled across the grass directly below the hawk and right in front of me, but the hawk didn't try again, even when the squirrel turned its back.
 |
| Pygmy Nuthatch |
* * *
Posts
