Saturday, March 13, 2010

Weekly Wrap-Up: Of Puppies and Hawks

If you read my previous post, you know that this past week was the first one with our new puppy, Jasper.  Like an idiot, I had planned out a normal school and activity schedule.  Apparently Jasper did not read his copy, because very few things went as I'd planned.  I'm wondering if we'll ever have a week when everything does go as planned.

Fortunately, Jasper still naps, and we manage to get quite a bit of our work done during his naptimes.


But actually, all things considered, we did okay.  Heavy rain on Thursday and Friday put a crimp in some of our activities, but then made it easier to catch up on subjects and reading we'd missed earlier in the week.  One of the highlights of this week was a visit from a hawk in our backyard:


At first, I thought it was a red-tailed hawk, but the markings were different.  I did a bit of research and discovered it was a red-shouldered hawk, which is in the genus Buteo, the same as the red-tailed hawk.  Note its red shoulders -- what an apt name!  After I took this photo, the hawk swooped down beside our playset and nabbed some small rodent, which it then partially consumed atop our playset before soaring away.  A few minutes later, we heard its call, but didn't see it again.

We see hawks somewhat frequently around here, probably thanks to my birdfeeders.  In fact, I was once witness to a National Geographic moment when a hawk came from out of nowhere and caught a titmouse at a feeder.  It was an impressive display, but I'm glad the girls missed seeing it.  Tiny Girl, especially, has a tender heart about such things.  Frankly, I felt a stab of sympathy for the little titmouse, too; but I have to admit the hawk was gorgeous!

8 comments:

  1. OK- the hawk incident- TOO COOL! I have become such a bird fan as of late, it would be an honor to have such a beautiful bird visit our back yard! (Oh little titmouse, come out, come out, where ever you are...)

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  2. That is the cutest little dog! I'm glad you got some school while he's napping. And the hawk picture is incredible.

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  3. Ohhhh is Jasper ever cute! All is forgiven :) What a great shot of the hawk. The word majestic comes to mind. Jasper is too big to scoop up I hope!

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  4. Cute puppy. Awww! Hawks are so neat to see. We seen one a few months ago. THey are so big.

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  5. As far as I can tell, Jasper is too big to scoop up, at least for a hawk! We see hawks quite a bit, but it is always a treat. We've actually gotten quite close to a few, but did I ever have my camera??

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  6. I'm in love with Jasper already. And he is so michevious...we see hawks often too, but not at that short distance, surely haven't seen one in action...the closest is when my cat killed a baby bird that was in my front tree and brought it inside the house, but my oldest was a year or something and was oblivious.
    (Marshmallows, m&m's, smarties, Ellen, think chocolate or sweet and spark up your math on occasion).

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  7. Oh!! What a beautiful hawk picture! I've tried on many occasions to get my camera fast enough when these amazing birds pause in my backyard, but I'm always too slow.

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  8. Ritsumei, thanks! This is one of my better bird photos. Like you, I'm always trying to get great shots, but rarely do. It's maddening!

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