On the 9th, we went to the Great Sand Dunes. While at the Sand Dunes, we wandered up a largely dry river bed: sandy base and some vegetation on the sides. The bird count was pretty low. The people count was even lower. No one to be seen anywhere.At one point, Dave was sitting off to the side near the vegetation taking photos of birds at a collection of water (see e.g., the Chipping Sparrow in the previous post). I was about 50' downstream sitting in the sand looking at my bird book. As I'm sitting there, I feel a man's hand grab my right shoulder. For a split second, I think it's Dave - but there he is 50' ahead of me. Yikes. I slowly lean to the right to see who has my shoulder...
A Cooper's Hawk. Yes. A Cooper's Hawk had actually LANDED on my shoulder. He stayed for a couple of seconds - totally unimpressed or scared - then glided up toward Dave and the yummy meals at the water.
I yell to Dave and start grabbing my shoulder to convey what had just happened (although he thinks I'm telling him it's a Red-Shouldered Hawk and he's thinking I'm nuts as it clearly is not). Dave is happy to have seen the Hawk who by then had landed in front of him giving him some nice photo opportunities which he took advantage of.
An amazing moment. 
1 comment:
You guys crack me up! Great story about the "red-shouldered hawk" and re-enactment photo!
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