Portland (OR) Daily Photo: Hawk

Showing posts with label Hawk. Show all posts

Thursday, October 1, 2009

They're here. Or. They're back. Depending upon whether or not this is your first Swift Watch.

Please scroll down to see today's dahlia, Harvest Moonlight, from Swan Island Dahlias.

We're going backwards in time on this post because I wanted to lead off with a photo of the swifts diving into the chimney. I don't have a guess as to how many were there. I wish I'd seen even more of them like I've read there sometimes are earlier in the month. And next time I go to watch, in 2010 hopefully, I ought to remember to put the camera on sport. Bring my tripod and maybe get one of those remote things so that the camera doesn't move with each click. There was a man in front of us, over to the left, who had all of that and a zoom lens like you see at sporting events. I'll bet his photos are amazing!

As sunset neared to signal their finale, fewer swifts remained outside the chimney which meant clearer background skies.

Early on in the final rush, clouds of swifts headed for the chimney.

At some point before the final rush for the roost, the hawk gave up continually twisting his head in all directions, wondering which tasty morsel to grab. He took off for a few seconds' flight, then landed again on the rim of the chimney. The consensus of nearby swift-watchers--he missed.

I couldn't get a photo of one part of the night's event, an astonishing part, so I'll tell you about it. First, think for a moment about those clouds of bees in animated cartoons, the ones where the bees are about to sting someone or something, sort of quickly swirling in sync, this way, now that way. Well, that's what the swifts did, too. I saw two clouds of them, each swirling to their own sync. And I do believe one of those groups took off after the hawk who'd brazenly left the chimney top to shop for a meal in the sunset. He didn't confront them, but sort of flew away as they swiftly went the other way. Later on he flew through a less organized cloud. In fact, I'm wondering if the blur on the right of the chimney in the first photo in this post is the hawk.

The empty chimney--what I saw after I got settled on the hillside, before I started eating my pastrami on challah and potato salad.

Today's dahlia, Harvest Moonlight. Facts from Swan Island Dahlias--Bloom: 10" Yellow, Bush: 4 1/2'

Monday, September 28, 2009

Not part of the plan

Please scroll down to see today's dahlia, Sunny, from Swan Island Dahlias.

Last Thursday evening after work Marsha and I rode three buses to get to Kenny & Zuke's to pick up our to-go orders, half pastrami sandwiches and sides of potato salad. We had a plan that included a picnic, a chimney and lots of birds. We wanted to take part in Swift Watch 2009.

This particular bird wasn't part of the plan, though. Later on once we'd arrived at the site and had joined hundreds of people waiting for the event, I did hear a man near our blanket saying that there had been a hawk present last year, sitting atop the chimney as the swifts flew around and around. More photos tomorrow and Wednesday.

I'm not sure if I cropped and sharpened the previous photo too much, so I've left this one for you to see, too.

Here's a bit from the Audubon Society's Web site: Join us on the lawn at Chapman School each evening in September for a spectacular display of Vaux’s Swifts as they gather to roost in the school’s chimney. Volunteers from Portland Audubon will be present each night with information about the swifts, binoculars and a spotting scope for viewing.

Swifts are insect eating birds that migrate south each fall. At sunset during migration they choose a place where dozens to thousands of birds can roost (sleep). Since the late 1980’s the Chapman chimney has been one of these roosting sites.

Swift watching – coming to view the swifts as they prepare to roost – has become a very popular activity at the Chapman School site in recent years. On most evenings in September, several hundred to several thousand people gather on the school lawn and neighboring Wallace Park grounds to watch and listen as the swifts gather overhead before entering the chimney.

Today's dahlia, Sunny. Facts from Swan Island Dahlias--Bloom: 9" Bright Yellow, Bush: 4'