Part of birding is social. "Nice to see you". "What have you seen today?" "How's the family?" etc. A couple of us were chatting when, WHOOOSH!, right by our heads flew the young redtail. Well, excuse me. Maybe we were standing on potential prey, but this was funny, awesome, but also worrisome. Sweet hawk, beware. Humans. It's wise to keep on alert. Not this youngster. Sat on branch studying the space while we gawked. Humans are fine. We're all friendly. Nothing to worry about. The hawk stayed in the space obviously hunting for lunch.
Then hawk flew slightly southeast, same thing, low to ground, near humans.
I moved on, but after 20 minutes or so doubled back. Now there were two hawks, one mature, one immature and they were into territorial facing-off.
Both hawks headed east followed by a group of enthusiastic birders. I opted to go in another direction. I feel that such a crush of people isn't good for the hawks. What are the hawks learning? How will this translate to other spaces? Birders adore birds, but not everyone has parental feelings towards birds. There's potential danger. I don't know the answer. It's wonderful being able to see these majestic birds, but a little common sense seems appropriate._____________________________
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