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- #191
Today I got home, washed my face & brushed my hair, then left to get my daughter from band practice. As I drove to the top of the hill, 3 houses away from mine, I saw bird activity. At first glance I thought a hawk was fighting a crow, with another crow swooping in to land some licks as well.
Then one bird separated from the trio and flew into a nearby large tree. It looked more like a raptor then, not a crow. But it was not a red-tail. The hawk turned on the crow and beat it up. The battered crow winged off to the east as fast as it could go. The hawk, clearly Frightful at this point, turned and flew straight for the tree where the other bird had gone. She did not slow down as she approached the tree.
As I watched the tree, I saw the raptor come out of the tree in an explosion of feathers, with Frightful following after doing a perfect Jackie Chan move! She had clearly just totally Kung-Fu kicked that interloper out of the tree! It was an amazing thing to see!
The invader flew off to the North as fast as it could go. There were clearly some feathers missing from its wings.
Frightful did not fly away. She soared about 45 feet over my car, at an angle where I could easily see her, easily see that she was okay. She bobbed in the gusts of wind, folding her wings in and out as she stayed in place overhead. The victor, the queen of the hill, dancing on her own breezes. I don't know who was more proud, me or her. But I have no doubt she saw me sitting there.
The invading bird was so dark on top that I had mistaken it for a crow, but as it flew overhead its underbelly was totally white, all the way to the tail, with no barring or marking. It was as big as Frightful, but shaped a little different. It was not Romeo. Maybe it was an immature red-tail female, a yearling that hadn't gotten any markings yet?
Gonna have to get out the field guide and see if I can figure that out. No matter what kind of bird it was, it had its butt kicked and it knew it.
Then one bird separated from the trio and flew into a nearby large tree. It looked more like a raptor then, not a crow. But it was not a red-tail. The hawk turned on the crow and beat it up. The battered crow winged off to the east as fast as it could go. The hawk, clearly Frightful at this point, turned and flew straight for the tree where the other bird had gone. She did not slow down as she approached the tree.
As I watched the tree, I saw the raptor come out of the tree in an explosion of feathers, with Frightful following after doing a perfect Jackie Chan move! She had clearly just totally Kung-Fu kicked that interloper out of the tree! It was an amazing thing to see!
The invader flew off to the North as fast as it could go. There were clearly some feathers missing from its wings.
Frightful did not fly away. She soared about 45 feet over my car, at an angle where I could easily see her, easily see that she was okay. She bobbed in the gusts of wind, folding her wings in and out as she stayed in place overhead. The victor, the queen of the hill, dancing on her own breezes. I don't know who was more proud, me or her. But I have no doubt she saw me sitting there.
The invading bird was so dark on top that I had mistaken it for a crow, but as it flew overhead its underbelly was totally white, all the way to the tail, with no barring or marking. It was as big as Frightful, but shaped a little different. It was not Romeo. Maybe it was an immature red-tail female, a yearling that hadn't gotten any markings yet?
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