On July 19th while in Harmon Canyon I heard some ongoing screeching. Sure enough it was some raptors. I recognized two juvenile red-tailed hawks and an adult red-tailed hawk flying in and out of a large tree. There seemed to be a territorial contest going on, with the adult finally occupying the tree while the two juveniles circled around continuing the noise. I walked on. Not long after, in relative quiet, the adult red-tailed appeared ahead of me, flying low across the hillside almost straight towards me. As it got close and began screeching I pressed the shutter for a burst of frames. During those couple of seconds a bird I had not noticed darted from its location on the ground near me across my field of view. It turns out the adult hawk’s target was another hawk, one of the juveniles that was involved with the adult before. Shortly after I saw the adult perched royally in the big tree with the two juveniles now screeching at each other, sparring over a roost on a utility pole. Was this a lesson from an adult to an offspring or a full-fledged encounter?
Moving ahead to August 30th, I was again on a Harmon Canyon hike/walk when I noticed an adult red-tailed hawk soaring over the canyon hillside. As I looked through my camera I could see another raptor, smaller and more lightly colored, fluttering on hover-mode high above this hawk. I thought, “I’ll grab a few frames of this closer bird and then get some of the one higher up”. Click, click, click. I shifted my lens up to the upper bird just in time to see it bank over and dive straight down at tremendous speed at the hawk below, catching it totally by surprise. They remained engaged as they flew out of sight over the hill’s ridge. Upon later review of the images, I am quite sure the “smaller” bird was a juvenile red-tailed hawk.
Could there have been a connection? Either way, thank you Harmon Canyon for the constant surprises, lessons and entertainment.
Dean
The Big Year 2021 