Monday was the first spring sighting of a Red-tailed Hawk (the first of the year), and not just any Red-tail either – a dark morph Harlan’s Red-tailed Hawk! A surprise appearance of a Short-eared Owl hunting close to home provided some memorable photographs – with more photos provided in the Bird Photography feature in this issue. Birds are great at creating surprises, and outside my bay windows this adult female Sharp-shinned Hawk created a fun minute of surprise last Wednesday.

During the past 2 weeks, the number of species in my home area has been increasing a bit after the recent arrival of flocks of Snow Buntings and Horned Larks, beginning with a Short-eared Owl hunting less than 2 miles from my office, although that turned out to be a one-time surprise. Ring-necked Pheasants have showed almost daily, and Friday a Merlin and a Bald Eagle added a bit of excitement to a birding drive, along with a Northern Shrike. I checked back on the eagle and shrike on Saturday, and while there was no sign of the eagle, I found the Northern Shrike – in fact I found 2! When I checked back on the shrikes Monday, I was happy to find the first Red-tailed Hawk of spring migration – and not any ole Red-tail – a black morph Harlan’s Red-tailed Hawk!

Back to the Northern Shrikes, after the excitement of seeing 2 together, it was especially interesting to have the chance to see a new shrike behavior, at least for me. The first shrike flew low across a native prairie area with a dusting of snow, and then to my surprise it zoomed upward to about 20 feet above ground and hovered. That’s the first time I’ve seen hovering behavior in a shrike before, and while it only hovered 10 seconds or so, it repositioned and hovered again at the same elevation.

The other new recent bird was outside my bay windows. Not a feeder visitor, but undoubtedly attracted by feeder visitors. I was about to go outside to fill my feeders, shelled seeds and peanut halves in hand, when a larger bird landed in the ash tree beside my feeding station. I could only see the tail – long, gray, with black bands, and the edges of the tail formed sharp corners – a Sharp-shinned Hawk. I replaced the seeds on the side table I use for bird feeding stuff in my entryway and stepped back inside my living room, grabbing my camera as I cautiously stepped toward the window to get a better look at the hawk.

Although Sharp-shinned Hawks are the smallest hawks north of Mexico, this was a large adult Sharpie, a female, a beauty. I took a couple photos as the bird had its back to me and turned its head side to side. Suddenly it flexed its legs low, raised its wings, and hopped to another branch using a wingbeat or 2 to help propel its leap. Now it was facing me and I took a couple more photos that showed the orange-brown markings on the white base of its breast feathers – and its red eyes. The hawk was perched in something of a tangle of branches, which detracted from the images, but in a moment the hawk was gone, flying low to the west, probably in pursuit of a small bird it detected. I hustled to the front door, but didn’t see the impressive yard bird again.

Not bad, a Northern Shrike hunting in my yard the previous Monday and Tuesday, with a Sharp-shinned Hawk making an appearance last Wednesday! Thursday should have been a Blue Jay day, but I didn’t see any blue birds that day or throughout the week. I did see White-breasted Nuthatches, the immature Harris’s Sparrow, House Finches, and Dark-eyed Juncos including at least 2 of the Oregon persuasion (Oregon race).

While writing Sunday afternoon I was surprised to hear a woodpecker call. I looked to see if I could locate it, and hoped it would follow feeder birds to my bay window view. No luck then, but as I finished this issue Tuesday afternoon a male Hairy Woodpecker at seeds from my platform feeder – a new visitor I expect considering its uneasiness. It returned once more, and hopefully will become a regular.

Saturday is March 1st, the meteorological beginning of spring, so Saturday is a day to celebrate and I’m expecting more raptors and the first geese and ducks to arrive soon. There is open water on top of area lake ice, and there’s plenty of food in the harvested cornfields in the area, so with the dramatic change of weather – going from a low of –35 last Tuesday morning to a high of +40 Saturday afternoon – the season is a changing. Enjoy the birds around you!

Article and Photos by Paul Konrad

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