This morning we were driving to the parking lot at the Old Coach Staging Area (same place I parked this week when I saw the hawks and crow commute) to start our run. I had put the camera in the trunk just in case.
We saw a bird on a wire that looked a little different. We were able to pull over safely and snap these pics! We zoomed in and to our delight:
American Kestrel
We knew it was a Kestrel immediately because Lynn and Dean had shared this beauty with us this week:
Tips from David: You can see these pint-sized predators up close more often than the bigger peregrines; not to be mistaken as young because of their size, the adults are normally small, smaller than a mourning dove.
See more photos of this Kestrel and other birds from Lynn and Dean’s mid-week hike at Sulphur Mountain in Dean’s album. Also seen there: Nuttal’s Woodpecker, Acorn Woodpecker, Bewick’s Wren!
Part of our daily routine at the new house involves supervised playtime in the backyard with Orlando. We are usually out together near sunrise and sunset, when crow rush hour is in full force in Rancho Bernardo (video below). We wonder where they are traveling and hope to get to the bottom of it in the coming months.
Mom had a pet crow when she was growing up in Moose Lake, MN. She always talked about this type of bird being highly intelligent. Orlando and I have our doubts. The visitors who stop off here seem clumsy and obnoxious–maybe that’s just the naive human/cat perspective…
Stay tuned for future updates. There is definitely a local evening expedition in order!
Hello Peter and Blair!! When I was hanging out with my best friend Sofia we found an owl. While we were playing around, her mom (Kari) asked in a whisper voice for us to come to her room. When we got up to her room we found a huge owl chilling on their back porch, I took a closer look at Sammy (that’s what I named it) and Kari said that she thought that it was a female owl because of her size. Sammy had very fluffy feathers and was keeping an eye on the other small edible birds for a snack, every few minutes she went down off the porch and try and catch the smaller birds, and the fact that she came back empty handed is why I think she could have had better luck. After a few more minutes Sammy took off in a flash to go find a better hunting place.
I headed out right before sunset for a break from the screens. We’d seen so much while walking on Sunday, so I went to the same spot. Not more than 1.25 miles from our house I was turning onto Hyland Valley Rd. and saw this red-tailed hawk. I was able to pull over for these:
Less than 0.5 miles down the road I saw another:
Still making my way to the parking spot, I saw two different hawks (that’s 4 in about 4 minutes!) sitting together in the same tree. The crows had bothered one away by the time I was able to walk back, but I caught one being pestered before it flew off.
With high curiosity, I crossed the road back to where we’d been two nights earlier. I was losing light, but enjoying the environment.
You may remember the gallery of what we think is a Northern Harrier discussed in this post. Before we captured those two images of it in flight, we’d seen a bird on this post. Peter later wondered if it had been the Harrier before we saw it in the air. It was back again this night!
The light was even lower than before, so these aren’t that helpful yet again, but there is a convincing white strip on the top of the tail….
I guess we’ll just have to go back 😉
The Harrier in the middle and cross by our house to the left.
As I was departing Harmon Canyon Reserve walking along Telegraph Road I noticed a little bird atop a tall, charred utility pole about 70 yards away. As always, I took a photo. You never know. I thought I could see a hint of blue and rust color so I kept watching to see if it would stay as I got closer. When I was close enough to see it was in fact a young Western Bluebird I felt lucky because I have not seen many over my last year. THEN, who flies into the frame and sits down but a cute young female. How lucky could I be! I got to within about 15 yards from the base of the pole (which was about 20 feet high) before the male departed. The female stayed for a few moments longer and then followed her buddy into a tree. Back home when I could see the image on my computer I saw how truly lucky I was. I can’t help but smile when I see the birds in thee image. I also can’t help but think of the Thomas Fire of December 2017 that likely burned that utility pole, and all the devastation it brought to homes in the surrounding hillsides and far beyond. The renewal continues still, in the canyon and the adjacent neighborhoods.
We ran this trail this morning and saw several large birds. With novice eyes there’s no hope for us to identify them without photos, so we headed back at the end of the day to see who might still be around. We had just 30 minutes to spend.
This is the first bird we saw, possibly the biggest we’ve seen out there. After consulting the book, we think this is a red-tailed hawk…
This is likely a different coyote, but this morning we saw a one in the spaghetti squash field along the trail. It looked ready to pounce on something, and we stopped to watch. After a few seconds it leapt forward just as a California Towhee flitted away. Phew! The coyote trotted along beside us, on the other side of a fence. It appeared to be tracking a bird flying overhead (or visa versa.) Then, what we think was a red-tailed hawk (very large, red-brown, black with a white band across the tail) came down to the coyote’s level in the field and flapped its wings rapidly before flying away. We’re not sure what that was all about.
We’re pretty sure this was a different bird this evening. But can’t ID without help. Peter is hoping for an owl, I think it’s probably a Cooper’s hawk. (Update: David suggests considering Northern Harrier. He taught us that it’s the only hawk with a with a white band at the base of the tail on the top side, and an owl-like face. Pg 96, Sibleys)Another hawk, another photo too poor to use to ID.
I got really excited thinking these were something new for our list, but after some research it appears they may be mourning doves tucked in for the night. All puffed up, they seem much larger than the doves in our yard.
All in 30 minutes! We will be back. I think there is a White-Tailed Kite out there. We haven’t had the camera the several times we’ve seen a large mostly white bird over the open grassland section. It has black wingtips and hovers in the air before diving straight down. For another day.
Saw this little one in Harmon Canyon. Would normally default to Anna’s female. But… is there any chance this is a female Costa’s? Sibley notes their tail is short with wings extending beyond. From many angles it looks mostly white on it chin and breast. The beak looks pretty straight though, and in Sibley it is drawn slightly curved downward. These West Coast Hummers look all the same when they aren’t adult males! – Dean
Okay, you know me and hummingbird identification…I caught it flying away, but not much help as the tail feathers aren’t spread. It seems these wings and underside look darker than most in the book. Based on territory, I say it’s an Anna’s. – Blair
The wide grey bands on the tail and wider brown bands on the chest make me think this was a sharp-shinned hawk. But, it does look like there is some white at the end of the tail like the Cooper’s Hawks have, unless it’s a sun highlight on a grey strip…Third guess would be red-shouldered hawk. Would love your thoughts! – Blair
Hi Blair, always a difficult call for me. I looked at Sibley’s, Merlin Bird and my pics of what I believe are juvenile Cooper’s. I end up leaning towards a juvenile Cooper’s hawk. The spotted marks are not exactly like the ones in my photos, but I would guess there is a broad range of colors and shapes possible. Could be Sharp-shinned, size would be the key as they are smaller than Cooper’s. Cooper’s are more likely to be perched like this. Cooper’s tail is a little longer and head bigger… hard to judge with no references. Very clear photos! The white spots within the dark wing color was intriguing me, but in Sibley’s it notes those spots can appear on most accipiters when they fluff their feathers.
In your other photos you definitely have some of Yellow-rumped Warblers.
Dad
Thanks, Dad! I also wondered about the white coming through the wings. I looked at pg 99 of Sibley’s and learned the term “accipiter.” Comparing those heads to this head, I would say Coopers looks closest. – Blair
The Big Year 2021 