More bird excitement

The other day I showed you some birds that are making spring in my garden exciting. Today there's more to share, starting with this hawk.

I'm pretty sure this is a red-tailed hawk, a juvenile who is not quite a year old.

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Even though it was sitting in a fairly exposed location, I only noticed it because of the ducks. The female in particular was making a lot of noise, quacking it up.

She was looking at something, not taking her eye off of it. Here's a look at my vantage point, from the bench that's next to the bananas:

The hawk is clearly visible above the pond and you can understand why the ducks were nervous, not leaving the relative safety of the water:

Always one of the pair was watching...

I never saw both of them with their heads angled up at the same time. One watched while one "relaxed" it seemed.

I got the impression that although the hawk might have been interested in the ducks to start with, it was scanning for rodents and other smaller prey.

The hawk must have been here earlier (before I got the camera) because the duck had been making noise all morning. While I was watching it switched trees -- boy, did that set off the quacking for a few seconds!

The hawk eventually flew off and things in the pond quieted down.




The next excitement was provided by a dove:

I don't understand how these birds can leave such a remarkable imprint on the window. Are they exceptionally powdery?

This has happened before, but this is a much better imprint. Look at the details that are visible!

It's like a fossil find, trying to identify the creature that left its mark this way. Unlike a fossil the bird did not have to die though, as we watched the dove fly off. I've never had a dove fatality due to a window crash -- is this because they're always flying slowly? (In the process of trying to land perhaps?)

Birds make a garden so exciting!

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