היומן של mammelton50

I was sitting near the bird feeders in the wooded area at Sabal Palms near Brownsville, Texas. There were white tipped doves near the feeders. With a speed so fast that the bird was a blur,the hawk swooped in and the doves dispersed. And . . . the feeding area became silent. A little later, the birds returned to feed, more of them, different species . . . and then I heard another "whoosh" and all the birds dispersed as the Cooper's hawk flew through. It came through at least three times. Only once did it fly slow enough for me to get the details. What an incredible experience to watch the hawk go through the forest with such speed and precision!!!!

I was down by my pond this afternoon, doing some late afternoon bird watching. I really enjoyed watching the grebes do their submarine like slow submerge into the water in addition to their dive. But what was really fun was to watch one swim partially submerged with just his head out of the water. At first I thought it was a turtle, but then I realized it was a grebe with just his head above water swimming along. I watched variations on this theme for several minutes. At times the grebe would be in normal swimming position except that his head was ducked low next to the water. I also watched it submerge partially keeping head and a little bit of neck above the water. Even though I had been sitting quietly for some time, I think perhaps it was trying to sneak past me.