The action was slow today on the ridge until approx 2:30pm when we had a flurry of birds moving thru. 25 of our 36 Redtails came in after 2:30pm as did 2 of our Golden Eagles.. We did have some fun early on watching an adult Peregrine (local bird) harassing an immature Bald eagle. This young eagle took exception to being harassed and turned the tables on the Peregrine and began chasing the peregrine. We were highly impressed by the flight skills of the young Bald as it tried to match the maneuvers of the Peregrine. The Peregrine tired of the chase and left the Bald in the dust ! Our Bird of the Day selection goes to the 3:41 Immie Golden eagle. This bird passed the watch site and went into a fast dive towards the river. We lost track of the bird and than moments later watched as 2 adult Bald Eagles dropped out of the sky and went straight to the area where we had last seen the Golden. They must have picked up the bird low near the river and were having none of it! They attacked the Golden forcing it across the river to the Pa. side. As the Golden was trying to gain altitude it was set upon by 3 Ravens and the age old battle of Golden vs Raven was on !This poor young Golden couldn't catch a break.. until it gained more altitude, cleared the ridge top, gained speed and momentum and than turned the table on the ravens chasing them off. We had an incredible study of this bird for at least 6-7 minutes as we watched it below eye level. After chasing off the ravens the Golden set it's wings and moved down ridge to hopefully find some friendlier skies !!
Non-raptor Observations: Snow Buntings- 4 ( 3 flew by at eye level) ( 1 landed in front of the watch site and foraged for an hour or so. ) Ravens- 16 Bluebirds Robins TV's- many Flocks of Blackbirds Crows ======================================================================== Report submitted by Jim Thomson (<hawkinflight...>)
