[obol] Band-tailed Pigeon Yard List/Hawks Hunting

[John Gatchet]

I was home yesterday (Saturday) and observed 28 species of birds from my
yard.  BAND-TAILED PIGEON have now arrived.  The 28 species is a new day
record total for our yard.  We are now down to 25 EVENING GROSBEAK and
40 PINE SISKIN.  One grosbeak has the feathers missing on one side of
the head below and behind the eye.  The bare skin is exposed and red in
places.  The bird must have survived an attack.
 
The missing feathers could have been the result of the Cooper's Hawk
attack as it flew at vision blurring speed through the yard and through
the birds who did not see this attack coming.  I was amazed by the speed
of this bird and believe it may have come out of a steep dive.
 
I watched the RED-TAILED HAWK catch a vole in the field behind our
house.  The hawk landed on it and held it in place with its talons and
dispatched it with the beak.  This was all done with care and took about
a minute as the hawk spent about 45 seconds working its talons in the
grass.  It then picked up the vole with its beak and swallowed it.
 
Three PURPLE FINCH were the first for the season at the feeders.
 
The following birds were seen:
 
Mallard
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Band-tailed Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Anna's Hummingbird (Courtship Display)
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Steller's Jay
Western Scrub-Jay
American Crow
Common Raven
Black-capped Chickadee
American Robin
European Starling
Spotted Towhee
Fox Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Purple Finch
House Finch
Pine Siskin
Lesser Goldfinch 
American Goldfinch
Evening Grosbeak
 
John F. Gatchet
Gresham, OR
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