Looks Like We've Got A Family Of American Kestrels Living With Us...

Of course, since I knew nothing about the subject, I was, understandably...

wrong.

You see, for the past few weeks, every time I step out on my back deck, a bird swoops down and tries to scare me away with squawking and hovering in the air then dive-bombing me in order to get me off the deck and back into my house. And for the past several weeks, it's worked.

And since I had no way to identify types of birds, I assumed it was a red-tailed hawk.

And you know what they say about assuming...

I found out that this bird was not a red-tailed hawk, but was instead, an American Kestrel falcon. This information was given to me at FantasyCon by some bird of prey owners. I showed them a picture of the attacking bird and they informed me that we've got a pair of falcons nesting in one of the nooks on our house. Here's some info on these smallest flacon in the United States: Wikipedia Link.

For years people have been fascinated by pairs of nesting peregrine falcons who have chosen one of Salt Lake City's most recognizable buildings as their home. They have webcams set up and everything. Looks like our little house has the same thing...kind of...but without webcams.

Ever Been Buzzed By A Red-Tailed Hawk? One Thing Off My List Of Things To Do...

Yesterday I was out on my back deck waiting for a hummingbird to stop by and get a drink from our little hummingbird feeder. I wanted to try and get a good close up shot using my good camera.

It was another bird that got my attention.

My neighbors have a huge tree in their backyard and in that tree were a couple of hawks. As I waited for the hummingbird to show up, the hawks started making a ruckus. I saw our cat waiting below the deck so I thought the hawks were making a fuss over him. After the birds began acting up, the cat shimmied up the post and stood by me. As he was climbing up, one of the birds began diving at us and hovering above our heads and it continued to cry out. The cat and I went inside and once we were inside, the bird stopped crying out and flew back to the tree.

I thought I had missed a chance to get some great shots of the hawk, especially as it basically flew in one spot in the sky (between bombing drives...). I went back outside to see if the bird was still there, I'd try and get a shot of that bird.

Turns out the hawks weren't worried about the cat at all.

They didn't like me.

For some reason, I've upset a pair of what looks to be red-tailed hawks. They're not too big or colorful, but they don't like me on my back deck. Tonight I went out and filmed one of the bird's flights on my phone. I don't know how long this is going to last. It's kind of strange, and a little Hitchcock-ian.