Hawk 2: Breaking news
31/05/12
By amazing coincidence Caroline spotted another hawk an hour ago!
“It was massive! It was the size of a small dog… ” she said, struggling to express its size. “…bigger than a miniature dachshund” she continued.
“It was the size of an osprey really” she added, a moment ago, after having run through various other animal comparisons which I didn’t have time to record here.
Yikes, it’s a beast! Gruesomely, it was eating a live pigeon while the pigeon’s distraught mate squawked in a nearby tree.
We’re not really sure what this one is… it may be another Red-Tailed Hawk.
Perhaps it’s following us…
Hawk!
31/05/12
The other weekend at the Kortright Centre we had a close encounter with a hawk.
We were on the viewing platform at the end of a long wooden walkway.
I had been scanning the whole forest with binoculars in the hope of seeing some wildlife when a lady who had left a minute before returned and whispered to us “Come and see this big bird!”
We walked quietly back along the walkway and there it was sitting dumpily on the fence scanning the forest for prey.
Occasionally it glanced over at the small group of humans which had gathered but it didn’t seem bothered in the slightest.
Lily quietly went back to our bag to fetch the bird book and returned saying “It’s on the cover!”
It appeared to be a Red-Tailed Hawk. It sat there for a few more minutes watching and waiting.
Suddenly it swooped down and caught something out of our sight. It flew up again holding its prize, then settled on a high branch a way off.
As it began eating, small clumps of fur fell silently to the forest floor below.