It's Sunday, for us that means church day. We enjoy our neighborhood church (
PRCC) for many reasons but mostly because of it's walking distance. Today, we weren't going to go until it struck us...we are
SO blessed! I'm healthy, our family members are healthy and we have lots of work, let's go give thanks to God.
So off we walked...
Just two houses down, whoa, we spot a mass quantity of Harris Hawks drinking from a large water feature. Several just gave us the 'stink eye' and didn't fly off. They've been hunting around our neighborhood in cooperative groups of two to six for many years and are not bothered at all by our presence, which was just a few feet away.
While most raptors are solitary, only coming together for breeding and migration, Harris's Hawks will hunt in packs. Presumably, hunting packs are an adaptation to the desert climate. (Heck, that is exactly how desert coyotes hunt). In one hunting technique, a small group flies ahead and scouts, then another group member flies ahead and scouts, and this continues until prey is bagged and shared. In another, all the hawks spread around the prey and one bird flushes it out. I've seen pairs of Cooper's Hawks do this type of hunting.
Sadly, the wild Harris's Hawk population is declining due to habitat loss; however, under some circumstances, they have been known to move into developed areas and that may be why we see so many in out northwest neighborhood. Our humble home is nestled at the base of
Pusch Ridge mountain range where wilderness and urbanization meet.
Over the years I've taken many images of these beautiful prey birds. Here's a family portrait of the group that lives out back. Ironically, I see them every morning just after I feed the backyard birds.
In March they had two babies. Their excitement was obvious. I watched them celebrating the birth by screeching and swooping from tree to tree. All the Harris Hawks in town showed up to the party. After spotting more than ten, I quit counting and just cried with joy for the whole family.
Each day since I've watched Mamma teaching her fledglings to fly and hunt. Yesterday she was with one youngster flying from front yard to back, pole to pole and even in the neighbor's palm tree. They were using the hunting technique where a small group flies ahead to scout, then another group member flies ahead, and so forth.
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| Oh, I'm Itchy. |
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| Who are you? Can I eat you? |
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| Have you seen my Mommy? |
And wing spans. |
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| Even babies have huge talons. |
This one was the one pulling up the rear of the hunt. "The juvenile Harris Hawk is mostly streaked with buff, and appears much lighter than the dark adults. When in flight, the undersides of the juveniles' wings are buff-colored with brown streaking. They can look unlike adults at first glance, but the identical chestnut plumage is an aid for identification,"
Wikipedia.
After they eat the kids will play in the water dish. Both juveniles took turns soaking their feet.
Once they learn to balance on a wire like this...then they can hunt on their own!
True maturity and talent.
All in preparation for this hunting skill, stacking! Harris will stack up to five high and I'm waiting for the opportunity to photo that technique.
Also from Wikipedia, "Individual Harris Hawks range in length from 46 to 76 cm (18 to 30 in) and generally have a wingspan of about 1.1 m (3.6 ft) They exhibit sexual dimorphism with the females being larger by about 35%. In the United States, the average weight for males is about 710 g (25 oz), while the female average is 1,020 g (36 oz). They have dark brown plumage with chestnut shoulders, wing linings, and thighs, white on the base a tip of the tail, long, yellow legs and a yellow cere. The vocalizations of the Harris's Hawk are very harsh sounds." I'll admit, their screech does scare me.
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| Big Mamma. |
Our gazebo is not a bird perch...but who wants to argue with her? The main thing is that we all get along, on Sunday and every day. May you be as blessed in your life as we are in ours! Happy birding.
