So dd was getting out of the bath today and I was tucking her under the covers of our bed this a.m., (to keep warm while I got out some clothes), and I looked out the window and saw:

http://www.amitymama.com/vb/attachment.php?s=&postid=909256

If you don't see it, look closer. There's a really beautiful Falcon perched on the arbor out in the garden. (The blurs are raindrops on the window. I was taking it from inside)

The bird let me get about 10 ft away and I took this pic:

http://www.amitymama.com/vb/attachment.php?s=&postid=909257

Unfortunately I had the camera on digital 2x zoom, so it's a bit 'pixelated'. I cropped the pic down so you could see the bird closer. It was well camouflaged by the branches behind it.

My daughter and i were practicing our spanish, and I told her it was "el Gabilan" Can someone tell me if I was right??!!?!

That is so beautiful! So cool that you got pictures.

I will ask dh when he gets home what Falcon is in Spanish - it is his first language.

ahhhh too bad your papa wasn't there! I know how he loves taking pictures and has a decent camera! LOL! :p
very cool ian :thumbsup:

I asked dh about "el Gabilan" and he said yep, that is it. Interesting though because he didn't really know what that sort of bird looked like because it is a North American bird and he is from South America. His primary reference to big birds is Condor. When I first asked him what "Falcon" was in spanish he said either "Falcon" or "Condor" they are actually spanish words....

Neat Pic Ian!
Looks like a Coopers hawk to me, but it's hard to say for sure without a clearer view of his breast. If you noticed a reddish tint on the chest then I'd definately say Coopers. They are usually forest dwellers but have a huge range of habitat. Don't you live near/in a city? Do you have a birdfeeder in that lovely yard? If so, that might be why it was there...they eat other birds usually.

Just an FYI: Falcons and Hawks are very similar in many ways, but Falcons almost always have tight, compact feathers (sleek looking) and wing tips that taper shaprly to a point.

-Heather
(helps with yearly falcon/hawk/eagle migration counts :))

That's an awesome pic Ian. You'll have to take a look at a couple of my bird "pics" to really understand blurry. Most of mine look like pictures of trees. Real exciting LOL.

Totally awesome! We see more than a few prey birds up here ;) . A few have even flown in front of me while I was driving (thought I was going to hit them). :eek:


They are beautiful birds!!

Jennifer



(((((

Hey, thanks lakshmi for checking that. :)

And thanks heather! I'm impressed. I love it when people know about something. I'll try to remember that the falcons are the ones with the tighter feathers. but I have this memory problem that makes me constantly reverse binary things like that. (I'm always reaching for the wrong side of the door for the lightswitch, not remembering if something was 5 or 5:30, whether someone told me yes or no, etc.)

And deb. I just thought of my binocular camera! that woulda rocked!! Oh well.

but I have this memory problem that makes me constantly reverse binary things like that. (I'm always reaching for the wrong side of the door for the lightswitch, not remembering if something was 5 or 5:30, whether someone told me yes or no, etc.)
Lmao!...we'll get along just fine then :D

We live in the country. The other morning Beth would not come down the ladder to her bunk bed. She was just staring out the window ignoring me. Turns out she was watching a doe and a yearling fawn. They were 10 ft outside her window. Later that morning she was looking with binoculars at our woods for the other fawn (one doe has twins). She found a wood duck sitting about 30 ft up in a tree. I love living in the country. We have had owls so close you could almost touch them. Huge ones. Lots of deer, coyotes, rabbits, bobcats, red-tailed hawks (they nest in a tree 5 ft from our property line), red shoulder hawks and lot more. It is a great way to instill honoring Mother Nature.

We have a coopers hawk who hangs out in our area almost year round. We have lived here since 2000 and he is audiable every spring.

We did have a bird feeder, and I was able to witness him picking up a fast food lunch one day. I put the small bird feeder away after that, to make things more fair.

I love seeing these birds, nothing cheers me more then to see such amazing creatures.

When I was preg we also had an owl perch to sleep all day just outside our bedroom window we are talking 2 or 3 feet. I closed the door so no one would interupt his rest. Our house was built in their woods after all.

julie

I ADORE Falcons and Hawks...

And I love your garden, it is beautiful! So nice even this time of year!

Love Val

Ian, my dh is a biologist and an excellent birder. I will have him look at the pic and see if he can tell you what it is. One of our bird books is sitting right next to the computer. :D