Raptor Wednesday

A young Red-tailed launches into the air in pursuit of… a Canada Goose? No, really? Yes, really. There were a dozen geese herding up the hill above Crescent Water in Green-Wood. The hawk raised a gaggle and disappeared from my sight. Then it flew back to this tree, making another pass of the geese as it did so. After this, the hawk gave up on that idea, and flew the other way towards a trio of holly trees brimming with fruit and a big flock of American Robins. Suddenly there are two Red-tailed Hawks coming out of those hollies! The birds made more passes at the Robins, and the Geese. Nobody got caught while I was watching, but it wasn’t for lack of effort.The ponds at Crescent-Dell are now brimming with bird-feeders, so there are song birds all over. RTHs general hunt mammals, but they will eat whatever they can catch. Only, being so big, they are not the most agile or subtle of hunters, like falcons or Accipiters, who are more commonly bird-eaters.This RT was eyeballing one of the feeders. About this time, I noticed an adult RT perched above the Dell Water. Before it was all over, I counted three individual juvenile RTs perched above the Crescent Water as an adult circled overhead.