Happy Sightings!

I've had four sightings in the last 3 weeks that have made me do happy dances :) Sadly, each time I had no camera in my hands :/

Three weeks ago I saw my Cooper's hawk fly overhead just before sunset. I assume he/she was heading to wherever the nest is for the night. I hadn't seen it for awhile and was worrying over it.

The week after that I got up to water my green children one morning and found hover flies everywhere in my container garden! They were going after my alyssum and too fast to catch on camera :/ I saw many different sizes and colors so I think that means there's a good variety in my mini-habitat :)

Last week I stopped by home in the middle of day and there was the Cooper's hawk again! It flew out of dad's avocado tree (online info says they like to ambush little birds inside tree canopies) and sat on our fence briefly before flying off to chase a crow. That was amazing to see. Despite the fact that it's trying to make a meal out of my little army (as I call the sparrows and morning doves that come to our feeder) I really like having that hawk around. I would just prefer it to eat more pigeons instead...

Aaand... this morning while watering my green children again I heard a weird buzzy noise and looked up and - hummingbird! First I've seen this year. It was checking out the Alaska nasturtiums in the backyard :) I'm surprised to have it visit the container garden when I've hung a hummingbird feeder in the front yard :z

I must add more nasturtiums.... and transplant the red salvia I got last week....

Happy wildlife sightings to everyone!

I Has a Falcon! - Scratch That - HAWK!!!

...or possibly a hawk - but I think it's a falcon :)

We've spotted a pair of these (and once a young'un) in my neighborhood many times in the last 3 or 4 years. This is the first time I've caught one on camera. It always raises my spirits to see them.

Suprised the hell outta me. There was a commotion in the avocado tree, at first I thought it was a squirrel. Then I heard my little army (the flock of sparrows) getting very upset, so of course it must be the Felis catus "Predator Mode" and I approached cursing at her... Then I hear "maouw" from the carport and oh - Felis catus is on the ground with me... At that point I turned on the video mode just in time to catch it flying out! That was about two weeks ago, last Sunday I watched it fly from our tree again but no camera :/

The video pretty much sucks. I got a few almost decent pics as you can see. I love my Fujifilm cam, but long distance zoom is not one of its strong points... I'm comparing with photos of LA County birds, but still not sure exactly which species this one is...perhaps Falco peregrinus anatum the American Peregrine Falcon, or "Duck Hawk"...? If anyone out there knows for sure please tell me! Here are the best close-ups:

On a related note I've lived in the same neighborhood my entire life (minus about 18 months) and wildlife was a bit on the scarce side until about 7 or 8 years ago. As a kid I was absolutely thrilled to once see a squirrel at the park down the street and a possum on the next block. Besides the sparrows, crows, mourning doves and pigeons that was it, seriously. I had heard of other wild animals in nearby neighborhoods but never seen them. As a kid I felt a bit cheated.

Now it's different. I don't know what or why but there's alot more diversity around here now and it makes me silly happy :D There are quite a few squirrels on my street (I know they could potentially become an annoyance in my garden but I'm still thrilled they're here!), I see possums on my evening walks, there are the falcons of course, I've spotted an american goldfinch in our cosmos, mom saw a blue jay last week (not sure which specie yet either), and Sunday morning I shooed a young lizard out of our kitchen :) I've also found more different bugs in the yard than I ever saw as a kid, many I've never seen at all!

And so I wonder why now? It makes sense that there's more bug diversity and lizards in our yard - I've grown insect attracters, created more shelter, the flower beds hold more moisture and much longer. But what about the squirrels, possums and falcons? What suddenly brought them to us and got them to decide to stay? They started coming long before we improved our yard. They're certainly not surviving off our garden (although the falcon is making more effort to ambush my army!). Several homes have been improved quite a bit, but (except a highly select few) hardly anyone has gone for a garden suitable to wildlife. I don't think the number of backyard habitats has gone up at all.

So why are they coming?

I have no idea... but I'm definitely encouraging them to stay!

***UPDATE 9/23/10***

I owe a big THANK YOU to Glenn Nevill who responded to this post and was able to tell me - I has a Cooper's HAWK! It pleases me greatly to put a name to these raptors.... hey wait a sec.... I has Raptors! Cue the Jurassic Park soundtrack!!!