We've spotted one or two Harris Hawks here in the past but we're excited to know that we have a group of at least FOUR visiting Palm Creek right now. Carol Cook got a good photo of two of them this morning. One is sitting on the meter and the other is perched to the right in the background.
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| Photo by Carol Cook |
Don and I were driving our golf cart up Palm Creek Blvd between holes 9 and 6 when we spotted them alongside the creek. One flew up into the air, dove down to the pond, and flew away with a fish clutched in its talons! How exciting for us bird watchers!!
The Harris hawk is notable for its behavior of hunting cooperatively in packs consisting of groups while other raptors often hunt alone. Their social nature has been attributed to their intelligence which makes them easy to train and has made them a popular bird for use in falconry.
Undoubtedly because it pursues large prey often, this hawk has larger and stronger feet, with long talons, and a larger, more prominent hooked beak than most other raptors around its size. They hunt primarily cottontails and jackrabbits. Harris hawks will hunt in cooperative groups of two to six.
These hawks have been increasingly used in falconry and are now the most popular hawks in the West for that purpose as they are one of the easiest to train and the most social. They have been used to remove an unwanted pigeon population from London's Trafalgar Square and from the tennis courts at Wimbledon. They're also used for bird abatement at locations including airports, resorts, landfill sites, and industrial sites.
It's easy to identify them in flight due to the white patch near the tail.
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| Photo from Wikipedia.org |
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| Photo from Wikipedia.org P.S. By the way.... Our golf course crew had better plant a lot more grass seed than usually needed. 😕 There are hundreds of doves enjoying the feast of new seeds.  REMINDER: Friday, September 29, is the last day of serving for the Ballroom Cafe. The Bistro will open on Monday, October 9. Guess we'll have to cook our own meals for a whole week! ************ Something special: End of Summer Dinner Found this poster in our mailbox today. Must buy your tickets by Oct 2. $25pp  |
