Nahanton After Irene

Red Tailed Hawk

After reading about all the rarities on MassBird and the eBird article on birds that might show up following the storm. I thought I might run down to Nahanton this morning (9am) to check out the damage and see what I could find. The cloudless blue sky was quite dazzling, with many more gulls circling over head than usual. But for the most part it was just our usual friends. There are a number of downed branches and the path to the pond is now blocked by a fallen tree so I only got faint glimpses there. But the most exciting birds this morning were the red-tailed hawks. A couple were circling over head, but one (juvenile?) was sitting in the middle of the upper garden while the gardener of the plot was working on the fence unaware of his audience!

Gardener Unaware of Large Visitor!

This hawk must have been pretty tired after the storm to tolerate people so close. I actually mistook him for a fake owl at first. Hope everyone fared well during the storm.