An Epic Day of Birding

The day started with a Red-shouldered Hawk breakfasting on a squirrel.

Katherine and I were at Natural Bridges to look for owls. We had not even entered the park before Katherine spotted a Red-tailed Hawk, perched on a Eucalyptus branch, tearing at a small rodent.

Red-tailed Hawk Eating Breakfast. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV with TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 A022, handheld, 1/500 sec., f/6.3, ISO 6400. Natural Bridges State Park, Santa Cruz, California.

I took several pictures of this hungry raptor, each more gruesome than the last. Gentle Reader, know that I’ve spared you by not showing pictures that allowed me to identify the hawk’s prey!

The Hawk was now eyeing us suspiciously, so we continued into the park to look for owls.

Red-tailed Hawk with Breakfast. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV with TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 A022, handheld, 1/640 sec., f/6.3, ISO 6400. Natural Bridges State Park, Santa Cruz, California.

Surprisingly, I soon spotted a Great Horned Owl in the tree where we had last seen them. (I say “surprisingly,” because Katherine is a much better Owl Spotter than me.)

Great Horned Owl. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV with TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 A022, handheld, 1/320 sec., f/6.3, ISO 12800. Natural Bridges State Beach, Santa Cruz, California.

This owl is camera-shy; both times I’ve seen him, he has a branch in front of his face.

As we were admiring the owl, a woman with a very large lens mounted on a monopod arrived. We quickly ascertained that she was also at the park to see owls.

“We’ll show you ours if you show us yours,” we said.

Okay, that’s not what we said.

But, we did show the woman, Karen, the owl we’d spotted. She said it was the father (which jibed with what we’d been told before by Henri). She then showed us where the juvenile owls tended to perch. We walked around for a bit, chatting, until we spotted a juvenile on a branch almost directly above us.

Which doesn’t make for a great picture.

Which explains why I don’t have one.

Moving on.

Karen told us about a nest of Ospreys that she was going to visit at 10am. She gave us directions and encouraged us to check it out. Katherine and I said we would. In the meantime, Katherine and I walked over to Antonelli Pond to see what was happening there.

A lot was happening–especially if you like Herons. (We do.)

We’ve seen Herons at Antonelli before, but not not like this. We saw multiple Great Blue Herons, Green Herons, Black-capped Night Herons and Egrets (which, while not Herons are in the same family). It was like an Ardeidae convention but without the Bitterns.

We also saw bunnies. They were young, exploring the area and chasing each other.

Rabbit. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV with TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 A022, handheld, 1/4000 sec., f/6.3, ISO 12800. Antonelli Pond, Santa Cruz, California.
Rabbits at play. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV with TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 A022, handheld, 1/4000 sec., f/6.3, ISO 10000. Antonelli Pond, Santa Cruz, California.

The above video was taken by Katherine with her phone (iPhone 7 Plus). Watch for the jumping bunny near the end!

I was nervous about the bunnies running around out in the open. I worried that I’d end up with a picture of a bunny being snatched up by sharp Hawk claws. Luckily, that didn’t happen.

Eventually, Katherine and I pulled ourselves away from the almost irresistible rabbits and headed over to see the Osprey nest. After a couple of false starts due to some misunderstanding between Karen and us about the exact location, we arrived at Harkins Slough.

Karen was set up there with her large lens mounted on a tripod aimed at the Osprey nest. She was hoping to get a shot of the father bringing lunch to his three (remember this number; it’ll be important later) offspring. She’d been there for an hour and the father hadn’t shown up. The mother and the juveniles were getting restless. They kept a sharp eye out overhead, eagerly awaiting his return.

Osprey and Brood. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV with TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 A022, handheld, 1/500 sec., f/6.3, ISO 125. Harkins Slough, Watsonville, California.

The juveniles would occasionally spread their wings as though they were thinking about flying, though all their flight feathers had yet to grow in.

Juvenile Osprey Spreading Wings. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV with TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 A022, handheld, 1/640 sec., f/6.3, ISO 100. Harkins Slough, Watsonville, California.

Occasionally, unrelated Osprey would fly too close to the nest and the mother would yell at them. Her alarm call, however, was not very impressive for a bird of her size. Apparently, the strange Osprey agreed, and the mother was forced to fly at it to drive it away from the nest. After the strange Osprey flew away, the mother felt safe enough to take a bath. She dunked herself in the water, flew around for a moment and repeated three more times.

Osprey bathing. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV with TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 A022, handheld, 1/640 sec., f/6.3, ISO 200. Harkins Slough, Watsonville, California.
Wet Osprey in Flight. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV with TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 A022, handheld, 1/640 sec., f/6.3, ISO 250. Harkins Slough, Watsonville, California.

When I downloaded the pictures, I saw that in the one above, the Osprey appears at first glance to be flying upside down. But like the Forster’s Tern, she had her head turned all the way around.)

While all that activity was fun to watch, it was getting late. Katherine and I had been out birding since before 7am and now it was after noon. We had said we’d give it another half hour about an hour before.

“The father usually brings food by now,” Karen said. Katherine and I said we’d give it another half hour.

And then another.

We continued to watch the nest and take pictures of any activity by the mother or the juveniles.

Wet Osprey landing. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV with TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 A022, handheld, 1/640 sec., f/6.3, ISO 100. Harkins Slough, Watsonville, California.

Luckily, Karen turned out to be full of information about where to find birds which she readily shared with us (apparently, some birders don’t share their sites). She also gave me advice about equipment. I asked her what was the difference between her lens and mine (both 600mm). Mine was a third-party brand (a Tamron) while hers was a Sony.

“About $19,000,” she said.

(Okay, no she didn’t say that. But it was probably the truth.)

Karen did say that her lens was “feather-light.” She allowed me to heft it, her camera, scope and tripod all together. It was about the same weight as my camera and lens alone.

Meanwhile, after many false alarms (due to the other Ospreys in the area) Katherine spotted the much anticipated return of the father.

“There!”

“Where?”

“Coming in low, on your right!”

Karen swiveled her tripod and I raised my camera. Bingo! The father came flying in with two fish in his claws.

I know what some of you are thinking.

Two fish.

Three babies.

Yeah, I don’t know. Maybe they drew straws.

Osprey Landing in Nest with Fish. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV with TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 A022, handheld, 1/640 sec., f/6.3, ISO 100. Harkins Slough, Watsonville California.
Closeup of Osprey Landing in Nest with Fish. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV with TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 A022, handheld, 1/640 sec., f/6.3, ISO 100. Harkins Slough, Watsonville, California.

We thanked Karen for showing us this great spot and sharing her knowledge with us. We headed home after a long, fun and informative day of birding.

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[…] However, a few weeks ago, when we met that birder at Natural Bridges who told us about the Osprey Nest, she also told us about a Mute Swan that had been seen in a pond somewhere along Swanton Road. She […]

Nancy
Nancy
June 25, 2021 3:08 pm

Great story! Is the owl usually nearer the DeAnza side of NB or the other side? I’m going to try to find it/them.

FYI–Couple of tech notes: Katherine’s video of bunnies shows up when blog viewed on my iphone but not on my iMac. No clue why tho.

Hawk description states Red-shoulder, but pic captions say Red-tail.

Last 2 Osprey pics say location is Antonelli, not Harkins.

kathyhawksbirdandphotoblog_prvy8q
Admin
June 25, 2021 6:14 pm
Reply to  Nancy

Thanks for the tech notes. I think I corrected them all. (I had gone back and forth about the identify of that Red-tailed Hawk for a bit.) Your notes led me to a post entitled “Why You Should Never Upload a Video to WordPress.” 😂 I have learned it is better to embed videos. Hopefully,
“Bunnies at Play” now works on all of your devices.

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