


this winter one of the raptor visitors is a peregrine falcon. for some reason, I find the fact that a peregrine is dropping by even more exciting than the hawks that come by. maybe it's some long held yearning to be a falconer - remember that wonderful movie ladyhawke? often peregrines migrate to warmer climates in the winter, however, it seems with human encroachment and perhaps global climate change, more birds are taking up permanent residence in locations which were once just summer territories.
our house is situated fairly close to the rocky river reservation, one of the parks in the cleveland metroparks system - or as locals call this group of parks, the 'emerald necklace.' because of it's massive shale cliffs and all the bridges that span the park, the rocky river reservation is an attractive habitat for peregrines. however, I guess at this time of year, they enjoy eating out and visit feeding stations of homes nearby.
I don't think I'll ever know the answer to the mystery of why the birds stopped coming by our feeding station here on avenue c. maybe it was bad seed or maybe it was something else. but whatever, the birds are back and we find much enjoyment feeding and watching the backyard birds.
speaking of watching. head's up to everyone in the united states tonight is the night! as part of the american masters series, pbs will be airing the documentary pete seeger: the power of song.
photos: top three pictures taken 25 february, 2008; bottom picture taken 24 december 2006 ~ all from our house on avenue c. don't forget you can click on picture to enlarge.
9 comments:
Okay! Thanks for the reminder on the PBS Seeger special tonite. I will do my best to watch and be schooled on a folk singer I really know little of, but he sounds fascinating.
here goes lee, looking for an internet link to PBS!
The raptors: every vineyard and orchard has its appointed one around our town. Every Saturday when we drive into the neighbouring town for Market, we see them at their favorite stake-outs. Good shot of the guy on the fence, btw.
I have set up TiVo to record the Seeger doc on Saturday. Thanks for the tip off.
A couple of years ago, I was driving through a residential neighborhood near where we were living and, as I turned a corner, a great shape seemed to drop out of the sky in front of my car and just hang in the air. It was an owl, a huge majestic owl, and dangling from his talons were the floppy remains of a now spiritless squirrel. It was one of the most extraordinary and disquieting moments of my life.
The owl just glided down the middle of the street about thirty feet in the air. It was a beautiful and terrible sight, one that I doubt I will ever forget.
I love big birds. I made my first visit to Hawk Mountain in Pennsylvania last year and watched beautiful birds catch the updrafts in this flyover.
Maybe the birds didn't come around because they knew a raptor was lurking nearby?
Pete Seeger is awesome! I love his album "God Bless the Grass." One of my favorites!
wat - hope you were able to check out the seeger show, if not I think pbs has some podcast thingy so you can see it through the computer. he is a fascinating person and long a personal hero.
lee - raptors are friend to farmers and vintners by helping keep the rodent population in check (eek! no, I'm advocating rodentcide!)
len - thanks for the owl story. it's eat or be eaten out there!
barbara - I really enjoyed your post on hawk mountain and look forward to visiting. turns out it's very close to where my extended family lives in pennsylvania - although I've heard of it for years, never visited.
steve - seems like the little birds and big birds all came back at the same time! along with bad seed I did think that maybe one of the predators was keeping everyone away, but that wasn't it. hope you caught the seeger show!
I missed the special and feel the loss!
Ladyhawke is one of my favorite movies. I'd certainly love to have a peregrine falcon visit my garden! We do have a hawk that circles regularly, but that is just not the same.
I put some goose fat in a cup for my garden's birds and the neighbour's cat came and washed the cup with her tongue
Now, birds can find insects, I saw a fly outside already
Dennis likes birds.
Post a Comment