Saturday, March 21, 2009

Red-tail hawk

I took advantage of the beautiful weather today and got out my kayak, going up Lincoln Creek to just past the abandoned St. Michael's Hospital building. This hawk let me get within 20 feet, occasionally pausing his dinner to glance in my direction.


The water was just deep enough to get through the northwestern part of the river in Lincoln Park to the confluence, but I scraped bottom in more than a few places. Without the dam, such a trip would be impossible during any of the summer months. These birds of prey have been around for at least the past two summers; they do live on the river when the water is high, as do the herons that seem to be more abundant every year, catching fish in the park.

5 comments:

mikemiller34 said...

So St. Mike's is still just sitting there? Now I have to get rich so I can turn it into the Mike Miller Birthplace and National Historic Site(R)(TM) ;-) Seriously, if I had the means, I'd develop it into affordable housing.

The River Otter said...

I still think it should be the County Mental Health complex. This part of town is woefully underserved.
It was kind of weird kayaking past it. A disembodied female voice said hi to me twice, then asked me if I like kittens (yes!) and then if I would be her friend. (um...sure) and then nothing further, until when I passed by on the way home and she said hi to me again twice.
Anyway, they can still name it after you.

willie dynamite said...

your post might be more credible if you knew what the difference was between a red tail hawk and a osprey. this is clearly a red tail hawk.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://mayo.personcounty.net/Wildlife%2520Page/Red%2520Tail%2520Hawk.jpg&imgrefurl=http://mayo.personcounty.net/Wildlife%2520Page/red%2520tail%2520hawk%2520page.htm&h=500&w=750&sz=88&tbnid=wRrjy9pbSkqzwM::&tbnh=94&tbnw=141&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dred%2Btail%2Bhawk&hl=en&usg=__wT5gfW1uTyoKg3kYEXsTH4YsdC0=&ei=qY_GSbOFD4HwsAOLiJ3qBg&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=1&ct=image&cd=1

The River Otter said...

Thanks, Ms. Dynamite- I changed it.

mikemiller34 said...

Hey, I'm not the one hearing disembodied voices while paddling up sh*t creek in a kayak ;-)