Hawk-Watching

This morning I noticed a hawk carrying a mouse over to one of the trees in the windbreak near where the motorhomes are parked. We realized that there was actually a nest way up in the crotch of the tree. If you look closely, you can see him in the middle of this picture that Forry took:

Here are the two motorhomes -- looking towards them from the shelter belt of trees:

And here is where we spent ALL afternoon, watching the hawks and their nest.


We had both sets of binoculars out as well as Forry's scope along with four or five bird books trying to figure out what it was. I was rooting for Swainson's Hawk ('cause I haven't sighted one yet), but we finally decided they are the "Harlan's Hawk" version of Red Tailed Hawks. Because these birds don't have the traditional red tail, they really had us stumped.

Of all the things I had imagined us doing while Juni and Tom were here, it certainly wasn't spending almost five hours watching birds! We had a great afternoon, with doves, blackbirds, both Eastern and Western kingbirds, sparrows and quail adding to the fun.