Hawk-A-Palooza

Hawk Watch was super cool. I went to this awesome place two times. Hawk Watch is a program run by falconers and scientists to help preserve the Ramona Grasslands and benefit the education of the public about hawks. During our visits we saw five flight demonstrations and fourteen birds of prey. The birds that I saw were: 2 Peregrine Falcons, 3 Gyrfalcons, 1 Kestrel, 3 Red-tailed Hawks, 1 Harris’s Hawk, 2 Screech Owls, 1 Barn Owl, and 1 Great-Horned Owl.

There are four morphs of Red-tailed Hawks (normal/light morph, dark morph, juvenile, and the elusive white morph; only one white morph Red-tailed Hawk has ever been seen). A confusing thing about Red-tailed Hawk morphs is that the juvenile Red-Tailed Hawks don’t even have red tails! Red-Tailed Hawks get their signature red tail after one year of age, if they make it that long (it is a major achievement if they are able to survive their first year, which is why falconers usually capture juvenile Red-Tailed Hawks to help them make it through their first year and then re-release them into the wild).

The Kestrel is the smallest falcon in America (the Bornean Falconet is just lighter than the Kestrel, but the Bornean Falconet eats Cole Tits that are the same size as them).

The Barn Owl isn’t a true owl like the Great-Horned Owl and the Western Screech Owl.

The Harris’s Hawk is the only Parabuteo (or hawk that hunts in packs) in the world.

The Gyrfalcon is the largest falcon in the world. There are three morphs of Gyrfalcon. Brown morph and white morph are in my photos below, although there is also a grey morph that wasn’t at Hawk Watch.

Speaking of Gyrfalcons, during the flight demonstration part of Hawk Watch we got to see a Gyrfalcon grab a pigeon wing off of a string hanging from a drone. Other flight demonstrations that we saw were performed using a Harris’s Hawk (Huxley) or a Peregrine Falcon (Poncho).

Hawk Watch was amazing (this post is dedicated to the falconers and scientists who put together Hawk Watch)! I had lots of fun photographing the hawks and please feel free to enjoy my pictures.