Comments on: Oh my gos(h)! http://www.wqed.org/birdblog/2008/09/26/oh-my-gosh/ A Bird Blog with Kate St. John Wed, 19 Jun 2013 09:15:20 +0000 hourly 1 By: Kate St. John http://www.wqed.org/birdblog/2008/09/26/oh-my-gosh/comment-page-1/#comment-4357 Kate St. John Fri, 03 Oct 2008 21:26:34 +0000 http://www.wqed.org/birdblog/?p=642#comment-4357 If you’ve been watching this space, the photo has changed.
Debbie Waters of Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory in Duluth, Minnesota is very familiar with northern gohawks – handles them all the time, brave woman! – and remarked that the original photo did not look like a goshawk. The new photo is certainly a gos!
Click on the photo to visit the Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory website.

]]> By: Vicki & Chuck D http://www.wqed.org/birdblog/2008/09/26/oh-my-gosh/comment-page-1/#comment-4206 Vicki & Chuck D Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:00:56 +0000 http://www.wqed.org/birdblog/?p=642#comment-4206 Speaking of raptors, a wonderful 15 minutes…
Leaving the Tanger Outlet Mall near the Meadows last week, we were driving on the road that edges the mountain top where the mall is located. Looking out at the broad vista, our gaze landed upon a raptor “sitting” on the air currents. With wings outstretched, it hung perfectly still with its feet hanging down and its head turned downward to scan the scrub of a hillside below. Searching for a meal it was. I jumped out of the car, grabbed my camera (love those little digitals!), ran to the guardrail between the edge of the flat road and the steep hillside, and looked at the creature suspended appx 25 feet above and out from me. Wings perfectly still, it did not move from it’s place in the air. It did not soar or flutter; it was perfectly still in mid-air. With a flick of a muscle, it turned to take position a few feet away. I ran to that spot. It lowered it’s altitude to carry it a bit further down the hill, then returned to the upper perch in the air. The duration of it’s air perch was breathtaking. I could have stayed forever and could hardly take pictures for fear of missing its beauty, but remembered I had left my son behind the wheel in his idling car, tucked along the roadside. Turning to return to the car, I saw another woman taking pictures with her cell phone and a young boy snapping shots with his camera. My son, not a bird watcher, had his sight afixed on the bird and said from the car window, “That’s the coolest thing I‘ve seen!” We could hardly pull away and leave what was one of those moments in time.

With all the material worth in the stores of the huge mall, the best find of our trip was the spectacular raptor.

]]>