Today, I have to step back and take second place to admire my wife’s quick thinking photographic prowess of yesterday, when I was not at home! She happened to look out of our back patio window, not the one overlooking our bird feeders, and saw an unusual looking bird sitting on the side of our swimming pool. She quickly got her camera, same make but smaller version of my own, and managed to get a couple of excellent pictures, before the bird took off and left.
In my efforts at identifying it, I am thinking that it was a female, or immature, Merlin, formerly known as a Pigeon Hawk, judging by its fairly squared off “barred” tail. It is similar looking to a Cooper’s Hawk, although they tend to have a slightly different coloring and a more pointed tail. Not being able to see the chest coloring, it makes my amateur efforts at identifying it a little more difficult. I am open to suggestions if I am wrong! Whatever it was, it was as much of a surprise for us to see, as it probably was for the small and slightly larger birds feeding at the front of our house, who were potential meals for it! A quick walk around the garden in today’s drizzle, hasn’t confirmed the telltale signs, in the damp grass, of a successful “kill”, so one or two birds may have got away unscathed! Let’s hope so, but, then again, the hunter still has to catch food to survive, doesn’t it? So, let’s live and let live!?
Stay safe and well,
Cheers,
John Baldwin
