community.kjrh.com

Tripskqr: Supposedly rural redtails have a 3 sq mile area but I doubt that is written in stone, especially if the outlying areas from the claimed territory, is unclaimed, but I am quite sure that Kay and Jay (and maybe even Thunder) would not permit any non-family member redtails in their territory. I think it very likely that you are seeing "our" redtails! Grab a camera!

Actually, now that I think about it, back in December last year when we had the ice storm & were without power for a week, we used to stand out on our deck listening the eerie crackling sounds of the branches as they increased in weight & subsequently broke off  Quite a few times I saw hawks sitting in the trees across the street.  It's very possible that may have been Jay & Kay.  A month or so before that they had torn down a block of houses on Skelly Drive which is a block to the south of me & disturbed the rodents that were living underground.  The storm debris we had for months became their new homes until they finally started the cleanup.  Plenty of food for our hawk parents as they were beginning to work on their nest again in February this year.  When I first ran across the Hawk Nest site, I remember thinking that maybe they were the hawks I saw but kind of dismissed the idea since the station was over a mile away.  Guess I better pay more attention when I am outside.

I think that this is SO very cool!!! It is nice to hear some history about them too....

7 pm  hot and overcast; spot Jay on Mazzio's Tower in a new spot - on the side, lower on top of round vertical white dish, scanning to the east, north and west constantly.  After few minutes one could hear the approaching storm, as distant rumblings of thunder and a few raindrops.  Jay continued to scan - to me it looked like he was looking for family members as they were very quick and constant scans, no preening over the 10-15 minutes I watched him.  I went into store, wondering if this storm he would take cover, and when I came out he had departed - hopefully to a less exposed area.  I drove around a bit and did not spot any of the hawks.
Much much more lightning and thunder with this round than the previous storms this week when I photographed him in the rain.

I hope he somehow knows that this is a "take-cover storm." It scares me to think of a very wet hawk on a metal pole, on a metal tower, in a lightning storm.

1:00am Sunday....74 & still raining    Camera is black.   Has been raining almost 6 hours straight & looks by the current radar it will continue for quite a few hours yet.  The temp dropped about 20 degrees within 30 min at around 7pm & has remained steady at 74 since then.  Been periods of fairly heavy rain all night.  Hope our hawk family has found somewhere to take cover. 

P.S.  Catgirl......AWESOME pics you got Friday.  I have the full wingspan of Thunder that you took as my desktop background.  Just beautiful ! ! !

Thank you everyone for your great comments on my pics.  It is such a thrill when I can spot the KJRH hawks somewhere - and even bigger thrill when I actually get a decent picture.  Thank goodness for the invention of digital cameras - I could never do it on film - would waste so so much film!!!!!

Thought this morning it had begun to dry off so maybe one of the hawks would be visible.  Started looking around 7:30 am.  Around 8 am could hear quite a ruckus going on with blue jays off to the south and east of the Mazzio's Tower.  I scanned from 41st Place just east of Peoria, and finally spotted a hawk swooping low over an empty field just east of the Arby's at 42nd and Peoria, with a mob of angry birds in hot pursuit.
I quickly cut through some parking lots and parked in the general area that I saw the hawk fly off to, got out of my car and lo and behold Jay was right over my head in a tree!!!
He had his breakfast with him and the mob was relentless.  He sat for a minute or two and decided that table was just too noisy and busy so he flew off to the northeast.  I circled back around the block and parked on 41st Place, and located him eating in a tree, a very quiet and secluded table!  But unfortunately in a very bad position for any good photos - was really hidden by the leaves.  I circled and circled the tree trying to get a good viewing angle.  With my binoculars I could watch pieces of him through the leaves as he gobbled that tasty bird down - I think it was a mockingbird from the feathers I observed floating down.  Every now and them one of the mob would come harass him for a minute but then quickly depart.  It was spectacular to watch - could see the head of the bird on one side of the limb and the tail and entrails hanging down the other side.  I could see the red chunks of meat being gulped down.  I have not had a chance to look at any of my pics, but if anything interesting I will post it later today on my flickr site.
Around 9:20 am Jay flew off to the north towards WholeFoods/WildOats at 41st and Peoria and I did not spot any anywhere easily visible.  And time for me to go home anyway!!!

12:19pm  Camera still black.   I'm wondering if it may possibly have been knocked out by lightning last nite.  We sure had a lot of cloud to ground lightning in the area & lots of rain. 

A few (well, 13 I think!!) new pictures from this morning  of Jay and his breakfast- here is the link to one of them (which should get you to the rest!) -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cheryls_camera/2664768778/

Its hard getting a good shot on these gray cloudy days, especially if the hawks do not cooperate - like perch in easily accessible areas and take into consideration  the light/background  so that we can get a decent pic!!

Not as gory as I feared they might be, and some spectacular flight shots of Jay overhead, with that glorious red tail, even with a gray overcast sky!

Wonderful shots from today, catgirl! And those of Jay, his prey, and the harrasser are striking. They reminded me of similarly uncommon shots on that website bobdmac referred us to--the one about the RTH named Patch, captured in one shot with both prey and harasser--
http://www.kitundu.com/patch/   (The photo is #43 under Predatory Behavior.)

I was interested in inspecting the unwanted "third at table" in your shot, so I took the liberty of lightening the photo a bit from your original as it displayed on my computer; and again, if you don't mind, I'll post it here. Seems that noisy guest was, indeed, a blue jay. And the prey--a mockingbird or a dove? Looks grey. Anyway, thanks.
What a shot!

3:05 p.m. Camera still black. Hi all! catgirl, your report and those pictures are so dramatic! You are a National Audubon Society / National Geographic photographer in the making! and .... Thank you Bville for posting catgirl's pic here! ... tripsqkr, thank you for the boots-on-the-ground depiction of the storm!... (also, per your other thread... my highest hopes for your daughter are still ever-present!...wish I could join you all, but alas...) ... and speaking of "alas's"... Gang I will be tuning in to at least peek at the photos, the nestcam and to read posts at least once a day... But for a while must limit the typing. Am having both hand AND shoulder problems, and the computer doesn't help. I've had several cortisone shots in the shoulder over the years, and am supposed to have surgery on that, as well, but I've put it off so many times... then came the hand surgery, which I'm still "recovering" from...not sure I want another cortisone shot in the shoulder, but may have to...... Anyway, sorry this is so off topic... but I just wanted to say, "I'm here!" in the background, and am loving all your posts... but you may not hear from me for a bit. At some point later, or here and there... but much less than I have been. ... Will miss the discourse with you, but ... please keep up the posts and photos!!! I will be enjoying them still!!! You are all so wonderful!!! Hugs - socal

Bville:

Brilliant idea, lightening it to see the mobbing bird. Never occurred to me. Duh. THANK you for posting this. And I completely agree - WHAT A SHOT!

Socal, we'll be missing you.  Have that shoulder surgery.  If I can do it, so can you.  It works better than ever now. 

Catgirl, what a picture taker.  You rock!

Socal: I am sorry you are in such pain. I hope they fix it and you recover well, but it will take a lot of time, of course. You are very wise to rest it. And we hope you peek in now and again just to read up on the goings on in Tulsa!