Pounce…by Brad Marks

As you can ascertain from this post, I survived the ankle surgery! Quite the ordeal, but Brad and I have two friends going through heart valve replacements up at Mayo right now, so comparatively minor in context. Just wanted to give a quick update as some of you had reached out. Unfortunately, once they got everything opened up, the doctor discovered the injury was worse than expected – not what you want to hear as you are clearing the fog of anesthesia. I’ll get more details during the followup. From Linda’s understanding, in addition to the multitude of expected repairs, the tendon was torn severely beyond initial assessment and strongly suggested those extra 48 miles in the race …..were not helpful (I’ll spare you Linda’s commentary, there might be delicate ears looking over your shoulder). Been some rough nights so far, but Linda is taking great care of me and Brad and Jan are keeping good tabs on me. Won’t keep you any longer as I know you would rather get to another adventure from Brad. Oh, apparently there were some comedians in the operating room as Linda found this when we got home…admittedly, I do laugh out loud every time I see it!!

Take it away Brad…

It’s not very often that Wildlife Intrigued photographers are at risk from their subject matter.  Not often, but it does happen.  Upon reflection, it does seem to be that Jan is the one that most often steps into harm’s way for these stories.

It was a lovely February day on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina.  By lovely, I mean clear skies and no rain.  The temps, however, were hovering just above the freezing mark.  Sea spray overnight had frozen on the fences and seagrass near our hotel on the ocean.  Jan and I decided to wait until the temperatures were at least in the 40’s before venturing outside.  Cold fingers and cold camera batteries do not make good photos.

After lunch at one of the cool breakfast/lunch restaurants on the island, we chose to drive to Jarvis Creek Park.  You may remember Jarvis Creek Park from last year’s visit.  The park includes a nice pond/lake (depending on your definition), nearly one mile of paved walking and fitness trails, clean restrooms, picnic areas, a fishing pier, and even a bike repair station.  On the other hand, before you let the children run amok in nature, it also has alligators.  We’ve only ever seen the gators close to the water in the lake, but nothing stops them from crawling up the bank to the walking path, except maybe the effort to get uphill.  (see here for gators from Jarvis Creek Park) 

But that’s not what this story is about.  This is a story about a threat not from the water, but from the sky.  Well, almost a threat in retrospect. 

Jan and I had been wandering around the lake trying to photograph some spastic flying blue streaks (tree swallows) when we paused under the pine trees near the water.  Jan was a bit further along, still trying to catch the tree swallows (future story) and I was watching a gator try to get down it’s first meal of the season.  It was rather gruesome, so no photos here.  We both paused for a second to give our memory cards a chance to catch up, when there was a minor kerfuffle from a tree near the water.

Hit the jump to fly to the rest of the story!

At first, I had to guess which type of hawk this was.  Merlin had captured a call earlier, so I guessed it might be the same bird.  I’m still learning raptor identification.  Many of them look so much like the rest, that it’s not an automatic ID for me.  However, when I later looked up which hawks might be in the area, only a couple of types came up.  The Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus), was the most obvious choice.  I only had a small glance under the wings and at the back of the shoulders, but that was enough for the ID.  I eliminated a Red-tailed Hawk because, well, of the tail color.  Red-shouldered have an obvious set of horizontal stripes on their tails, Red-tailed tails are reddish with white at the end.  A Broad-winged Hawk also has strong striping on its tail, but no red shoulders.  The red shoulders were a key identifier for me. 

Oh, and this is a +1 bird for us.  Well, it’s the first time I’ve been able to positively identify a bird as a Red-shouldered Hawk.    

Where we live in Illinois is part of the Red-shouldered Hawk (RSH) range.  I’ve probably seen them flying around, but without my camera or binoculars, and it sitting perfectly still, I’m not able to identify them easily.  We also have Red-tailed, Coopers, and Sharp-shinned hawks (plus others) in our home range.  Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good. 

I thought something across the lake had its attention, but I was very wrong.  Remember when I said that Jan was a little further away, under a pine tree?  She was under this specific pine tree, the one the hawk was perched in.

When the hawk left the branch, I wasn’t very concerned.  But when it made a sudden dive to where Jan was standing, I yelled for her to watch out.  This sounds very similar to the black bear incident from Sequoia National Park (here) and the bald eagle close-up in Alaska (here).  I began to sense a theme.  I think it’s time I checked the fine print on the Wildlife Intrigued employee hazard benefit coverage.  Maybe that’s what the large glass is for:  self defense.

At that same moment Jan was trying to take photographs, the hawk nearly landed on her.  From my perspective, the hawk pounced right where she was standing.  It ended up being about 6 feet away in the pine straw at the base of the tree.  Jan took this photo as “wide” as the 200-500mm lens goes.  Her lens was right on the edge of being able to focus so closely.  Still, a very cool photo.  She said it rooted around for a second or three, then flew off.  The hawk took off over the lake, then made a gentle 180-degree turn as it gained a few feet of altitude and flew back into the trees towards the picnic pavilion. 

We both followed it through the air and ran to the tree near the pavilion where it landed.  Ever tried to run with a 200-500mm lens?  It’s not pretty.  The Red-shouldered Hawk ended up on a branch about 15 feet above the ground, directly over a walking path by the circular car park.

The hawk brought a talon-full of pine straw with it and was digging around in the clump of stuff for its prize.  For whatever reason, it felt the need to announce itself, or to issue a warning, I’m not really sure which.  There was a fair amount of noise coming from two families that had just arrived in their minivans for a picnic; maybe it felt threatened.  Speaking Hawk is another 400-level course at Intrigued HQ that I have yet to sign up for.

Finally, the hawk found what it was looking for in the pine straw.  Whatever it decided to grab looked rigid, like a branch or twig.  Or the tail of a vole or a mouse. 

From our vantage point I could not tell if the rest of its meal was still inside the bundle of pine straw or had been consumed on the wing during the flight to the tree.

Red-shouldered Hawks are forest raptors.  They prefer to live in a stand of trees with an open area making it easier for them to hunt.  RSH can also be found in suburban areas, but woodlands will be close by for nesting and food.  They aggressively defend their territories, and have been known to attack humans from time to time.  Yes, even those wielding large camera lenses.  Great-horned Owls will sometimes prey on RSH nestlings.  But the hawks often turn the tables by distracting a parent owl while a mate sneaks in to make a meal out of an owlet.  Red-shouldered Hawks have also been known to team up with American Crows to chase owls out of their combined territories. 

Red-shouldered Hawks tend to return to the same nesting territory for many years in a row, often using a nest from a prior year after a bit of a sprucing up.  A pair will incubate 2-5 eggs for up to 40 days; nesting lasts another six or seven weeks.

Anything small and tasty that they can catch is on the Red-shouldered Hawk menu.  They hunt from high perches.  Then when RSH sight their prey, there will be a swift descend, gliding silently to snatch a vole or chipmunk.  Toads, snakes, crayfish and occasionally small birds need to be wary if a Red-shouldered Hawk is in the vicinity.  They have been known to eat turtles, of which there were plenty in this pond, but rarely and only very small ones they can carry away.

Their population has actually been increasing slightly over the last 50 years.  Red-shouldered Hawks have been known to live up to 25 years in the wild. 

Once our featured feathered friend had finished its snack, it was giving Jan a look.  I don’t believe the Red-shouldered Hawk was guessing whether it could carry her off or not, but the look was very intense.  Seconds later, with two giant flaps of its powerful wings, it was gone.  We were unable to follow its flight path in the thick tree cover. 

The Red-shouldered Hawk didn’t need to let us know where it was going or when it would be home because “birds of prey know they’re cool” (link here thanks to The Far Side).  Seriously, this cartoon appeared on the day I finished writing this story, ask Brian.

Thank you for reading.  If you want to see Red-shouldered Hawk photos, please visit here. 

Credits Thanks again to Jan for proofreading and editing.   Thanks to Jan for many of the photos in this article.