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Crimpergirl

Sport climber

Boulder, Colorado!

May 12, 2011 - 10:47am PT

A quick birding TR. This past weekend, BrassNuts and I went south to the Alamosa Wildlife Refuge and the Great Sand Dunes to see birds. 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.

BN was sitting off to the side near the vegetation taking photos of birds at a collection of water. 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 BrassNuts - 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 BN and the yummy meals at the water.

I yell to BN 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). BN's happy to have seen the Hawk who by then had landed in front of him giving him some nice photos.

An amazing moment. Here is a photo recreation of where I was, what I was wearing and the actual Hawk. Very cool!

Reilly

Mountain climber

The Other Monrovia- CA

May 12, 2011 - 11:02am PT

Wow! That's a lifetime moment for sure! How's it feel to be a fencepost? :-)
Nice historical re-creation, too.

BITD I was sitting on a log in the North Cascades watching the sunset. Totally
isolated for days. A deer walks out of the woods 50' to my right and saunters
up to me. Stands directly facing me for several seconds grokking my oneness, I guess.
Then he bends over and sniffs my boot. He straigtened back up and said,
"I soo loov ze french leather, too."

OK, he didn't really say that but it was amazing.

Mike Bolte

Trad climber

Planet Earth

May 12, 2011 - 11:48am PT

i'd find that a bit scary crimpy

Crimpergirl

Sport climber

Boulder, Colorado!

May 12, 2011 - 01:47pm PT

It was the COOLEST.BIRDING.MOMENT.EVER.

What scared me is that I really thought it was a man who had grabbed my shoulder. It took about 15 minutes to get all that adrenaline out of my system. I don't feel like the bird ever noticed I was a person (or he certainly didn't care). It was uber cool!

I told BN I could still feel where he claw when through my jacket on my back. BN looked at sure enough there was as minor a scratch as one could imagine. I made him take a photo of it because I'm a dork that way. :) It's still hard to believe that happened!

BrassNuts

Trad climber

Save your a_s, reach for the brass...

May 12, 2011 - 01:50pm PT

I really wish I had seen the hawk on CG's shoulder, I just missed it! Quite an experience for her! Here are a few other bird pics from the trip...

Reilly

Mountain climber

The Other Monrovia- CA

May 12, 2011 - 02:18pm PT

BN,
The first is one of the best shots of a Coopers evah!
The Marsh Wren is great too!

ydpl8s

Trad climber

Santa Monica, California

May 12, 2011 - 02:24pm PT

Wow, the bar has been raised. Maybe you should change your moniker from BN to AuduBN

Mike Bolte

Trad climber

Planet Earth

May 12, 2011 - 02:25pm PT

These are really outstanding shots BN

Crimpergirl

Sport climber

Boulder, Colorado!

May 12, 2011 - 02:29pm PT

I think he has amazing bird photography talent. I don't think he has any idea! To think, that Coopers sat on my shoulder. I'm still blown away. :)

scuffy b

climber

dissected alluvial deposits, late Pleistocene

May 12, 2011 - 02:41pm PT

Most amazing, awesome pictures and astounding occurrence.

That Yellow-headed Blackbird...
On two occasions in the past, I was asked by friends
"What's that black bird with a yellow head called?"
On both occasions, my standing was diminished when I supplied the
correct answer.
My friends couldn't understand why I didn't just admit that I didn't know
the name of the bird, instead of coming up with such a dumb answer
(Yellow-headed Blackbird).

Reilly

Mountain climber

The Other Monrovia- CA

May 12, 2011 - 02:48pm PT

I was chuffed to bits to not only see this guy (gal?) but to get a decent
shot, too. We were on an unmarked trail near Fitzroy that the woman who
ran our B&B told us about. It was so dark I had to use the flash which didn't
faze him (I'm sticking with 'him') so intent he was in his little trail project.
If you look you will see he had jinormous feet - I would say large crow-sized
on a bird the size of a robin. He most industriously, in a couple of senses,
plows up the ground looking for wee tasty creatures. He happily went about
his foraging less than 10' away while I merrily clicked away.

Oh, he is called a Huet-huet in Argentina or a Hued-hued del sur in Chile.
You can call him the Black-throated Huet-huet/ Pteroptochos tarnii.
He is in the Rhinocryptidae family which is unique to S. America and has
a number of other cool-looking members. He has a close relative in the
Chestnut-throated Huet-huet whose range is much smaller although within that
of the Black-throated. Presumably the Chestnut must occupy a slightly different
habitat or niche within the same habitat although I have no info on that.

BrassNuts

Trad climber

Save your a_s, reach for the brass...

May 12, 2011 - 03:09pm PT

Checking in between rope wash/rinse routines... Reilly - very cool shot of "bigfoot" there! Sounds like you got a good show! Another reason why this is my favorite "OT" thread on the taco! Here's another Marsh Wren shot - he was my fave this last trip I think; not very colorful, but what attitude and song! They Yellow-Headed BBirds were pretty funny too - all puffed up for the gals...

Crimpergirl

Sport climber

Boulder, Colorado!

May 12, 2011 - 03:15pm PT

At one point, we were birding on a loop road in the car. At dusk, the Yellow-Headed Blackbirds were out on the road displaying. They were so into it, the car did not phase them. We had to stop and wait for several to get it out of their system so we could continue forward. I'm still laughing at their little shows.

Crimpergirl

Sport climber

Boulder, Colorado!

May 12, 2011 - 10:01pm PT

A bump with some shame. Hoping to see more birds!

Reilly

Mountain climber

The Other Monrovia- CA

May 12, 2011 - 10:36pm PT

You have no shame! But it's permitted in this case :-)

You know it's a jungle out there and it ain't always pretty.

A pair of Chilean Skuas lunching on a King Cormorant :-(

"Bob was a good ol' bloke, 'e was."

It seems many species are fascinated with watching their own suffer.
OK, that's probably reading a bit much into it.

Crimpergirl

Sport climber

Boulder, Colorado!

May 12, 2011 - 11:54pm PT

Yikes! Grimness. It's like watching a Coopers come through the drive through at the feeder. I watch the aftermath through my fingers.

Mighty Hiker

climber

Vancouver, B.C.

May 12, 2011 - 11:57pm PT

Skuas are a rapacious bunch.

Crimpergirl

Sport climber

Boulder, Colorado!

May 13, 2011 - 10:35pm PT

A friend was recently hiking in Red Rocks Vegas. He can't figure out this bird and I wondered if all the rockin' birders here could help.

Do you see the bird?

This bird was located at the base of the cliff, but getting to the base required some up-hiking. The rocks you see are now at the base, but two years ago they were about 80 feet higher.

While there two years ago, my friend heard an owl and recognized it as a Great Horned Owl. This one though isn't one he believes.

Size of this owl: That rock to right of owl is roughly 20" high - shoulder level, and my friend was sitting against it before he knew the owl was there. The owlet started making a noise which alerted my friend to his presence.

Beak is definitely BLACK, not yellow.

Thoughts? I'm going to get my books right now!