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Sockeye · 08-08-10, 01:21 AM

I've been taking photos and videos of this hawk (affectionately named Horace) that moved into the neighbourhood about five years back, and while some cool stuff has happened since then, the encounters of the past few weeks have grown in intensity, with this afternoon topping them off so far.

Two months ago, to celebrate the summer of love, our guy's lady showed up, and some time later, there were a few little guys flying around. It was pretty cool watching the parents teaching their young how to soar and hunt. After the kids were taught, everyone except our guy dispersed to find new hunting grounds.

It was during this recent teaching process that these hawks started coming closer and closer to my apartment building--which is practically an aviary for pigeons.

A few things that I've noticed over the past few weeks:

1) Because I get the afternoon sun, the hawks seem to have chosen that as their ideal time to hunt within my view, and they appear to be very clever about being up-sun;

2) Because my building is 'Y' shaped, it really looked to me today that they were 'corralling' the pigeons into the crook of the 'Y' (if you want to Google up a reference map: "43 Thorncliffe, Toronto", north leg facing west);

3) I've discovered a new appreciation for pigeons.

So, today the family was all together once again. Every now and then in the past, there would be Horace and his lady (Isabel), but today there were five or six hawks flying around. The sky was filled with their calls, and the pigeons were going nuts trying to find places to hide.

I split my time shooting stills and videos depending on what was happening, and the strip of stills below are my little highlight reel. At this point in the day, there was only one hawk in the sky, so with the skies free of anything but game, Horace made his big move.

The first five shots are the dive-in (actually, I think he started putting on the brakes in the fifth); and the last five are the pull-out, which wound up being a lot closer to my balcony than you can tell from the shots. These ten shots represent about four seconds real-time.

But enough talkie:

http://a.imageshack.us/img838/9323/strikerhalved.jpg

P.s.: I'm assuming that these are hawks, but I'm no expert, and I'm just loving that they're around at all.

And p.p.s.: Sorry for the quality of the pics, but my camera's meant more for family vacation than anything else. I was going to upload some video, but the dimensions are 320 x 240, so meh.

08-08-10, 01:21 AM	#1
Sockeye Machinist's Mate Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 127 Downloads: 46 Uploads: 0	Avian Combat: Horace Strikes Swiftly I've been taking photos and videos of this hawk (affectionately named Horace) that moved into the neighbourhood about five years back, and while some cool stuff has happened since then, the encounters of the past few weeks have grown in intensity, with this afternoon topping them off so far. Two months ago, to celebrate the summer of love, our guy's lady showed up, and some time later, there were a few little guys flying around. It was pretty cool watching the parents teaching their young how to soar and hunt. After the kids were taught, everyone except our guy dispersed to find new hunting grounds. It was during this recent teaching process that these hawks started coming closer and closer to my apartment building--which is practically an aviary for pigeons. A few things that I've noticed over the past few weeks: 1) Because I get the afternoon sun, the hawks seem to have chosen that as their ideal time to hunt within my view, and they appear to be very clever about being up-sun; 2) Because my building is 'Y' shaped, it really looked to me today that they were 'corralling' the pigeons into the crook of the 'Y' (if you want to Google up a reference map: "43 Thorncliffe, Toronto", north leg facing west); 3) I've discovered a new appreciation for pigeons. So, today the family was all together once again. Every now and then in the past, there would be Horace and his lady (Isabel), but today there were five or six hawks flying around. The sky was filled with their calls, and the pigeons were going nuts trying to find places to hide. I split my time shooting stills and videos depending on what was happening, and the strip of stills below are my little highlight reel. At this point in the day, there was only one hawk in the sky, so with the skies free of anything but game, Horace made his big move. The first five shots are the dive-in (actually, I think he started putting on the brakes in the fifth); and the last five are the pull-out, which wound up being a lot closer to my balcony than you can tell from the shots. These ten shots represent about four seconds real-time. But enough talkie: http://a.imageshack.us/img838/9323/strikerhalved.jpg P.s.: I'm assuming that these are hawks, but I'm no expert, and I'm just loving that they're around at all. And p.p.s.: Sorry for the quality of the pics, but my camera's meant more for family vacation than anything else. I was going to upload some video, but the dimensions are 320 x 240, so meh.