So, the first thing that I should tell you is that I (almost) always have my camera with me. Something interesting is always happening and I love to take photos. Well, I wasn't disappointed this afternoon!
The fire alarm went off earlier, on this most wonderful not-too-hot-not-too-cold sunshiny day. Everyone was in a good mood, strangers made friends, and someone remembered to bring a football during the evacuation. A couple of the teen librarians started up a game of catch and pretty soon several people joined in and that football was flying around. But when the football flew up into a tree with a pigeon in its talons, I had to take a second look.
It was a raptor! Some sort of a hawk? It was way up in that sycamore tree, firm grip on its lunch while about 50 people stood down on the ground looking up at it with their hands shading their eyes. It was such a surprising sight to see in the middle of our busy Oakland that several of us stayed to observe it.
Do you know what kind of bird this urban hunter is? Please leave a comment - we'd all love to know!
3 comments:
This looks to be a red-tailed hawk, all right. For more photos and information about the red-tailed's activity in our Oakland neighborhood, visit Kate St. John's fabulous bird blog which is hosted by WQED. It's called "Outside My Window -
A Bird Watcher’s View of the World." http://www.wqed.org/birdblog/category/red-tailed-hawks/
It could be one of the falcons that nests on top of the Cathedral of Learning. They've been hanging out around Schenley Plaza a bit this summer.
We're still debating it - we've got folks saying red-tailed hawk and others saying peregrine falcon. I'll have to get out one of our fine field guides and look properly!
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