August 25- 2019
We were walking the beach and the pier, for the first time. Then we came upon 3 signs blocking our way that said— No trespassing Private Beach. There was a young man, probably a summer high school worker. His was up- hill from us.
He was working with small shears on Japanese Knot Weed. I asked him if he had told the weeds to — Go back were you came from. But the kid was not interested in conversation. He grabbed some cuttings and walked away from us toward the wheelbarrow. As he returned I shouted — Did you tell them to go back to Japan. He said “ I don’t know what these weeds are. I only know that I was told to cut them out”. Then a man came out of the closest house and went to the edge of his lawn and shouted “ I’m glad somebody is getting rid of those Knot Weeds. They are a noxious weed!” The poor kid was getting it from both angles. NB.
Wednesday, September 11, 2019
Sunday, September 8, 2019
A good exercise
This exercise will help you to try and size a bird. I would think your primary target would be gulls. Or crows. Observe the hawk naked eye, then of course raise your binos. Then lower the binos and go back to naked eye. Do this over and over again. Then you will get a better feel for the size of the bird.
Another exercise is to practice looking deep into the sky. Many of you will say- If I cannot identify raptors at one- half mile away, why should I try and observe a raptor at one mile away? Or more. Do you know that it takes practice to look deep into the sky? In other words, it does not come naturally. But that dot or speck or mote might show projections, meaning wing and tail. Most of time that is all it takes to form an opinion or an identity. So practice looking at all raptors at all distances — naked eye and with optics. Try and understand that you do not have to name a raptor— just enjoy being outside with nature and enjoy. Act as if you were a child again and just observe. Also, pay a lot attention to raptors in flight naked eye. Because most of the time you will not have your binos, as when you go to a ball game or on the tennis court or driving your car. And with practice you can observe raptors perched and in flight while driving car. NB.
Another exercise is to practice looking deep into the sky. Many of you will say- If I cannot identify raptors at one- half mile away, why should I try and observe a raptor at one mile away? Or more. Do you know that it takes practice to look deep into the sky? In other words, it does not come naturally. But that dot or speck or mote might show projections, meaning wing and tail. Most of time that is all it takes to form an opinion or an identity. So practice looking at all raptors at all distances — naked eye and with optics. Try and understand that you do not have to name a raptor— just enjoy being outside with nature and enjoy. Act as if you were a child again and just observe. Also, pay a lot attention to raptors in flight naked eye. Because most of the time you will not have your binos, as when you go to a ball game or on the tennis court or driving your car. And with practice you can observe raptors perched and in flight while driving car. NB.
Saturday, September 7, 2019
More on size
When you have 6-7 years of field work with raptors and perched raptors and raptors in flight, then you can play- around with the word SIZE. The size of a raptor is important to the raptor and the scientist— it is not important to you. Yet it is very difficult to not take into account the size of a raptor. Why this is I do not know.
If you think it is important to size a raptor, then go ahead and use your calipers and rulers and place the specimen on the road side or in the bed of your truck and document with pen and paper. That is after you learn to take accurate measurements. But, don’t get caught at it! And, I just learned a better way to identify accipiters and it is quicker than using a ruler and calipers, or whatever instruments the scientists use. I will get into this subject on another essay- post.
You are in the field with me. I point out a raptor in the sky and say Goshawk. You reply - The bird is too big for a Goshawk. But, you are not going to to get away with that. You must add more to the conversation. You cannot just get away with - The bird is too big, or the bird is too small. I have evaluated the hawk, you must have also evaluated the hawk. So what is your evaluation other that the bird is too small or too large?
Here might be an axiom- You cannot tell the size of a bird until you know the distance to the bird. I say this is a false statement. It might be doubly false, or even false to the triple degree. Even if you know the distance to the raptor perched or in flight, let us say one- half mile away, you cannot tell the size of the raptor. But, with years of practice you can place a bird or a raptor within a bracket of size. However, it also depends on the direction and the intensity of light. It also depends upon the background, the texture and color, of the background.
I have more to say and demonstrate, but will add just a little more for this post. Hawking is not about size. It is about shape, proportion, wing movement ( many aspects) and wing holding (how a bird holds it wing in a soar or in a glide.) When a raptor moves its wings it gives up its species, that and the wing holding. That is in accordance with this web- site which concerns a set- group of raptors: residing in the Puget Sound Area and in the East - areas such as New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York. Also concerning the three species that invade from the North in winter.
You should get yourself a “marker bird” pertaining to sparrows, some sets of shore birds, and raptors. Then classify the size of the marker bird. You are trying to get a feel for the size of that sparrow. So, you can have a large marker bird which for sparrows should be a Song Sparrow. Then become familiar with a medium size sparrow. Any other size sparrow will of course be a small sparrow. There are three sets of sizes for raptors. I say there are only three large raptors. But that is my classification. Your bracket system might be different from mine, might be more complicated. NB.
If you think it is important to size a raptor, then go ahead and use your calipers and rulers and place the specimen on the road side or in the bed of your truck and document with pen and paper. That is after you learn to take accurate measurements. But, don’t get caught at it! And, I just learned a better way to identify accipiters and it is quicker than using a ruler and calipers, or whatever instruments the scientists use. I will get into this subject on another essay- post.
You are in the field with me. I point out a raptor in the sky and say Goshawk. You reply - The bird is too big for a Goshawk. But, you are not going to to get away with that. You must add more to the conversation. You cannot just get away with - The bird is too big, or the bird is too small. I have evaluated the hawk, you must have also evaluated the hawk. So what is your evaluation other that the bird is too small or too large?
Here might be an axiom- You cannot tell the size of a bird until you know the distance to the bird. I say this is a false statement. It might be doubly false, or even false to the triple degree. Even if you know the distance to the raptor perched or in flight, let us say one- half mile away, you cannot tell the size of the raptor. But, with years of practice you can place a bird or a raptor within a bracket of size. However, it also depends on the direction and the intensity of light. It also depends upon the background, the texture and color, of the background.
I have more to say and demonstrate, but will add just a little more for this post. Hawking is not about size. It is about shape, proportion, wing movement ( many aspects) and wing holding (how a bird holds it wing in a soar or in a glide.) When a raptor moves its wings it gives up its species, that and the wing holding. That is in accordance with this web- site which concerns a set- group of raptors: residing in the Puget Sound Area and in the East - areas such as New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York. Also concerning the three species that invade from the North in winter.
You should get yourself a “marker bird” pertaining to sparrows, some sets of shore birds, and raptors. Then classify the size of the marker bird. You are trying to get a feel for the size of that sparrow. So, you can have a large marker bird which for sparrows should be a Song Sparrow. Then become familiar with a medium size sparrow. Any other size sparrow will of course be a small sparrow. There are three sets of sizes for raptors. I say there are only three large raptors. But that is my classification. Your bracket system might be different from mine, might be more complicated. NB.
Friday, September 6, 2019
Goshawk female — Memorial Hwy Mount Vernon WA
Dear observers— I still have more to say concerning size, while birding and hawking, probably three more posts on the subject.
Today around noon I had a very quick look at a female NG as she was near the sun then into the sun. Sept. 6 2019. Location — Research Extension Center on Memorial Hwy, Mt. Vernon, WA. I clump this area with the Skagit Regional Airport. It is up to you on how you rate this area. I went to the Extension Center to gather info on roses. I carried my camera- not to photograph roses, but in order to capture a Goshawk.
Here are my sightings of NG in this area over the last fifteen years. At the airport— female doubles; doubles male and female; a male; a female that went to perch and perch again, then flew away. A female soaring over the highway. A female soaring over the Extension Center. And the female today, disappearing into the sun. All NG were in flight but not in migration.
My experience with a raptor that is in the sun — ninety per cent of the time this is what happens. I can move my position, I can wait- out the hawk, I can observe the areas all around the sun, I can block some of the sun with my hand or a brochure: but I will never see that hawk again!
Also discovered on the edge of the Extension Center — a scattered heap of bird feathers. NB.
Today around noon I had a very quick look at a female NG as she was near the sun then into the sun. Sept. 6 2019. Location — Research Extension Center on Memorial Hwy, Mt. Vernon, WA. I clump this area with the Skagit Regional Airport. It is up to you on how you rate this area. I went to the Extension Center to gather info on roses. I carried my camera- not to photograph roses, but in order to capture a Goshawk.
Here are my sightings of NG in this area over the last fifteen years. At the airport— female doubles; doubles male and female; a male; a female that went to perch and perch again, then flew away. A female soaring over the highway. A female soaring over the Extension Center. And the female today, disappearing into the sun. All NG were in flight but not in migration.
My experience with a raptor that is in the sun — ninety per cent of the time this is what happens. I can move my position, I can wait- out the hawk, I can observe the areas all around the sun, I can block some of the sun with my hand or a brochure: but I will never see that hawk again!
Also discovered on the edge of the Extension Center — a scattered heap of bird feathers. NB.
Saturday, July 27, 2019
Size question serious
Is there such a thing as a “ large or very large Cooper’s hawk”. I have heard of a huge elephant and a huge rat. Since rats live with humans and humans discard food, cooked and uncooked, and egg shells, rinds, and bones I can assume there will be huge rats.
Have you ever been in the field, when yer friend yells “ Hey Evets (Steve backwards), look at this huge Song Sparrow.” On any e- bird report, have you seen a large White - crowned sparrow. If you observe a huge Red- tailed hawk, you can place that hawk in the bin with the Harlan’s red - tailed. Many years ago I was with a few birders from the Skagit Audubon. We were at Samish Flats, an open area on the roadside with telephone poles and wires. There was a Merlin perched at close range on the wire. The background was sky- monotone. Is this why the hawk appeared very large or was it because I had not observed a Merlin perched at close range, for many years. I was informed by the birder next to me - No the bird does not appear large. The hawk appears just right.
Now , you know this posting is going to slip right into Northern Goshawks. I say this- if you think you observed a Goshawk- then you probably did. But the few factors that you present must point in the right direction. Location is not as important as the season. I am suggesting that if you observed a large Cooper’s hawk in flight or perched, that the hawk was not a male NG. Since a male NG is slightly larger than a female Cooper’s, and at a distance of more than 50 feet it is too difficult to resolve the difference, I say you probably observed a female NG. If you are familiar with the Cooper’s in flight, but you cannot describe what you observed, except to say - There was something funny about the hawk — something different, well it is still possible you observed a NG. On this posting, I will not describe identification.
So, this posting talks briefly of size. Size might depend upon intensity and direction of light. It might also depend upon the background and the color and the texture of the background. But, to you really think that size is important. Well, it ain’t. Size matters to the bird; size matters to the scientist. Size makes the bird, or the bird makes its size — or both. I will continue on another day. NB.
Have you ever been in the field, when yer friend yells “ Hey Evets (Steve backwards), look at this huge Song Sparrow.” On any e- bird report, have you seen a large White - crowned sparrow. If you observe a huge Red- tailed hawk, you can place that hawk in the bin with the Harlan’s red - tailed. Many years ago I was with a few birders from the Skagit Audubon. We were at Samish Flats, an open area on the roadside with telephone poles and wires. There was a Merlin perched at close range on the wire. The background was sky- monotone. Is this why the hawk appeared very large or was it because I had not observed a Merlin perched at close range, for many years. I was informed by the birder next to me - No the bird does not appear large. The hawk appears just right.
Now , you know this posting is going to slip right into Northern Goshawks. I say this- if you think you observed a Goshawk- then you probably did. But the few factors that you present must point in the right direction. Location is not as important as the season. I am suggesting that if you observed a large Cooper’s hawk in flight or perched, that the hawk was not a male NG. Since a male NG is slightly larger than a female Cooper’s, and at a distance of more than 50 feet it is too difficult to resolve the difference, I say you probably observed a female NG. If you are familiar with the Cooper’s in flight, but you cannot describe what you observed, except to say - There was something funny about the hawk — something different, well it is still possible you observed a NG. On this posting, I will not describe identification.
So, this posting talks briefly of size. Size might depend upon intensity and direction of light. It might also depend upon the background and the color and the texture of the background. But, to you really think that size is important. Well, it ain’t. Size matters to the bird; size matters to the scientist. Size makes the bird, or the bird makes its size — or both. I will continue on another day. NB.
Do you observe the sky
Dear birders and hawk watchers- and there is a difference. Yes, there is a world of difference between a hawk watcher and a birder. There is a big difference between a Cooper’s hawk and a Goshawk.
Check the the wa tweeters birding list serve post by crazy dave, July 26 2019. Disappearing birds. He reports on the paucity of birds, insects, and raptors. He lives south of my position possibly by 70 miles. I can conclude from our observations - birders are not hawk watchers. They have little interest in observing the sky. Folks - I am in the sky every day - even from inside my house. Raptors cannot hide in the sky!
The thought: I am going to write an Irish jig. Mueller are you in there.
Check the the wa tweeters birding list serve post by crazy dave, July 26 2019. Disappearing birds. He reports on the paucity of birds, insects, and raptors. He lives south of my position possibly by 70 miles. I can conclude from our observations - birders are not hawk watchers. They have little interest in observing the sky. Folks - I am in the sky every day - even from inside my house. Raptors cannot hide in the sky!
The thought: I am going to write an Irish jig. Mueller are you in there.
Monday, July 22, 2019
Early goshawk
July22 - 2019 Anacortes- Saint Mary’s Church
1 female NG. The hawk came through overhead, flapping, at about100 feet altitude. Then hawk went circling, soaring and flapping and drifting, at about 150 feet altitude. Lapsed time of observation, about 2 minutes.
The hawk had a very wide terminal band, white. My other neighbor— the third one— to be shown a Goshawk in flight. I will say this again and again— You’ve seen Goshawks!
This ( for me) is a rare sighting of ( female NG) as related to the season; the nesting season. The female is usually observed after August 15. Or better yet— September 1. Also, it is rare or uncommon to observe a male NG, until after August 15. NB.
1 female NG. The hawk came through overhead, flapping, at about100 feet altitude. Then hawk went circling, soaring and flapping and drifting, at about 150 feet altitude. Lapsed time of observation, about 2 minutes.
The hawk had a very wide terminal band, white. My other neighbor— the third one— to be shown a Goshawk in flight. I will say this again and again— You’ve seen Goshawks!
This ( for me) is a rare sighting of ( female NG) as related to the season; the nesting season. The female is usually observed after August 15. Or better yet— September 1. Also, it is rare or uncommon to observe a male NG, until after August 15. NB.
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