Dear OBOL-ites;
This just recently came my way, hence the lateness of the posting.
Local retired professional photographer Oscar Palmquist and his wife Jone
were out bicycling on Jan 1, in the delta ponds area;
probably along the river bike path. They came across a pair of Hawks with
which they were not familiar.
These Hawks were engaged in some interesting interactions. Whether it was
territorial aggression or some
aspect of courtship we don't know and hope those reading this will shed
some light on this.
Oscar took a nice set of photos.
Neighbor long-time birding instructor (semi-retired) Floyd Weitzel
identified the hawks from Oscar's photos, as Red-shouldered Hawks.
I was excited about this because I was under the mistaken impression that
R.S. Hawks
had not been reported at Delta Ponds. A check on eBird just now showed
fairly regular appearances of (usually one) such bird as far back as 2012,
and almost monthly sightings since August 2015 and almost every day for the
first week of this year.
Only one out of all those sightings involved more than one R.S. Hawk.
The information about Oscar and Jone's Hawks was presented at the Jan 7
meeting of the BOGS group
(Birds of Oregon and General Science). Since then Oscar has forwarded his
photos to the group.
I know Oscar Palmquist and wrote to him about posting his photos.
They can be viewed a short distance down the page at:
http://priscillanhk.com/birds-of-interest.html
Interpretations of the Hawk's behavior would be appreciated.
I will probably see Oscar Tuesday afternoon and will share your input with
him.
Thanks!
Priscilla Sokolowski
