Backyard Hawkwatch (Country Hawks!)

Padding into my office early this morning, cup of coffee in hand, I did a cursory check on my bird feeders. Usual suspects were there: a couple of finches and mr. cardinal. I sat down to check on the NYU Hawk Cam. Rosie was sitting and Bobby stood motionless on the edge of the nest. (He stayed that way for 25 minutes, until finally Rosie got up for a break.)

All of a sudden, in the corner of my eye, I see a flash of brown and red, and then, rising up not more than 6 feet in front if me, is a red-tailed hawk, his wings filling my entire window. He had swooped in on a bird! I grabbed my camera and ran to the back deck to find him. I saw him in a tree not far from the house with his prey. From the color of the prey in his left talon, I would say it's probably one of the doves who frequent the ground below the feeder. :-(

He came back about a half hour later, perched on a dead tree on the edge of the lawn and continued to hunt. (I refuse to remove this tree because I've often seen the hawks there.) In my mind's eye, I pictured his nest, with mate and chicks to feed. He's been here all morning. All morning, I've had one eye in my camera viewfinder, the other on the Washington Square Park nest! Snap, snap, snap ... camera whirring; click, click, click ... computer video streaming.

Hawk with its prey.

Hawk eyeing my backyard (or me in my office). Click to enlarge.