Friday, July 29, 2011

The Beginning

About a month ago, I started a new job at the golf course near my house. I'm out working on the course by 5:15 typically, and off work by 1:30, except for weekends, when I'm off by 9. In the mornings there is lots of bird activity, and being around it I began noticing how cool and fun it was to see what they are doing. We have two, maybe three Red-Tailed Hawks, and a similar number of Osprey, though I can only confirm two. They are truly magnificent birds.

My mom gave me a pair of old binoculars through which to observe the birds, but they were a cheap pair, not worth the metal and lens they were made of. With that in mind I shambled over to Big 5 and picked up a pair of their old display binoculars, which I though were better than any of the other ones, they just don't have any accessories, and I'm totally ok with that.

In the week since I got those binoculars I have seen some really awesome activity. Yesterday I watched a Red-Tail scratch his face on a branch, and then jump to a branch which he thought was sturdy, but was actually just a dead branch which fell and got caught, so when he landed on it, he and it fell out of the tree. He opened his wings after falling maybe five or six fight, and passed directly over my head, perhaps seven feet above. I had a good laugh.