[TN-Bird] Red tail/harrier "batelle royale" at St. Thomas Aquinus Campus!
- From: Dthomp2669@xxxxxxx
- To: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2006 16:58:29 EST
Hi TN-Birders,
What a show! What a show! What a BIG, BIG show!
At about 11:45 AM today, as I sat at the reception desk just inside the
glass-fronted Emergency Room waiting room at St.Thomas Hospital in the Belle
Meade area of West Nashville (Davidson County) where I volunteer each Thursday
morning, I looked across the way to see one of the resident red-tailed hawks
wheeling in the sky, from whence it then came down to perch in a tree. This
is
not an unusual sight, as it happens almost every Thursday.
Suddenly, an interloper appeared and took a swipe at the red-tail. At
first, I thought it might be a second red-tail starting a little territorial
and
"testosteronial" battle. In a moment, I realized, as the two lifted off into
the air together, that the "new" bird was NOT a red-tail. I left the desk
and dashed outside where several people had also noticed the two hawks. The
hawks latched talons in mid air, separated, and the red-tail soared higher
with
tail a-fan while the "new" hawk plummeted groundward, then flew right across
the St. Thomas Heliopad about 75 feet in front of us at eye level. With the
slim gray body, the long black-tipped wings, long tail AND that fantastic
white rump, it proved to be a harassing harrier! It flew back around; the
red-tail flew down, and they went at it again. About that time, one woman
commented, "Them two ain't the same kind of birds." I told her she was right
and
pointed out the field marks and differences to her and a couple of other
people who gathered around to listen. About that time, the birds repeated the
performance with the red-tail soaring aloft while the harrier once again
sailed
right over the heliopad at close range. My "companions" saw the differences
as I pointed them out, and there were a couple of "Oooooohs" as he swooped
back up in the sky to battle again. These little forays went on for about ten
minutes in the area between the hospital and the St. Thomas Aquinas/St.
Cecilia School campus next door. I did not see where the red-tail went at the
end, but the harrier once again made a fast sail across the heliopad to insure
that he'd made a fine imprint upon all our brains then sped on out behind St.
Thomas toward Richland Creek, McCabe Golf Course & the campuses of Tennessee
Tech & Nashville Tech where there are large expanses of short grass and some
taller grass over which a harrier might enjoy hunting. What a sight to see,
and it gave several worried people (who were there with family members who
were being treated in the Emergency Room) a moment of excitement and a
learning experience. When the birds were first spotted, those folks were
outside on
a lovely day getting some air and using their cell phones to call other
family members. Every one of them took a break to watch the show, and a
couple
of them even thanked me for pointing out the obvious differences in the two
species which they'd thought were "some kind of hawks."
It all sort of made the day, and when I left duty, a red-tail was perched in
a tree between the hospital and the schools where its territory is, once
again, intact. The harrier, undoubtedly more practiced in fighting now, will
probably go home to his nesting grounds to defend HIS own territory after,
maybe, getting in a few more practice rounds as he wends his way along the
migration route.
Cheers & prayers,
Dee Thompson
Nashville, TN
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