When walking back up I saw many American Robins and Blue Jays in the bare trees lining the road and the adjacent meadow. Suddenly I was stopped short by the unmistakable squeals of a Red-tailed Hawk which seemed to come from a mixed thicket of young pines and deciduous trees off the path. Robins kept flying into the pines and out of view. The squeals kept coming and then, just as suddenly, stopped. The Robins reemerged unscathed and flew off. I never saw a hawk and I am wondering whether the cries came from a Blue Jay practicing his hawk imitation, but I'll never know.
Congrats on a life bird...glad I could help.
ReplyDeleteReally cool birds. I never seen more than one at once, so a group of 4 is really a great sighting!!!
ReplyDeleteGreat lifer sighting and wonderful pictures. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Hilke - and nice photos. Such plain looking birds in winter, that they are easily overlooked on our waters.
ReplyDeleteOh, man . . . I'm in LOVE with that bird! Great photography job! Congrats!
ReplyDelete...you caught lovely photos of the grebe, capturing that red eye so well! (I love it when the Blue Jays make their hawk sounds. Sometimes I think they are doing it to scare away the birds to leave more see for themselves!)
ReplyDeleteAnyone beyond a beginning birder automatically identifies the birds at the top of this page as Eared Grebes on these characters:
ReplyDelete1. dark on face below a line drawn through the eye [yellow line here]
2. concentrated white 'hot-spot' low on back of face
3. peaked crown above the eye
4. short, thin, straight or slightly upturned bill
5. much dusky on neck, including on front of neck
6. rear of bird often carried high
#green tea: Are you sure you looked at these photos? I think you are very much mistaken. The peak is in back of the eye. The bill is not upturned. The front of the neck is white not dusky... Most of the birds are turned away, showing more of the back of the neck. Anyway, for confirmatio I submitted this to the Id forum on Birdforum. net and the two replies so far agree these are Horned Grebes: http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?p=1656030#post1656030
ReplyDeleteGreen Tea: I've been birding 30 years and these are Horned Grebes - you are very wrong (and it seems to me unnecessarily aggressive in being so). The straight bill, the jizz, the white tip to the bill, the flattish back, the facial pattern, etc etc
ReplyDelete