Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Pale Male triumphant

At the end of a recent report on the various local owls, Bob Levy, [whose book, The George Club, is nearing publication day],described a dramatic hawk confrontation:

...I also got a close-up-and-personal view of Pale Male confronting an immature hawk while I stood on the Rustic Arch. The youngster had parked itself high in a tree on the north east side of the upper lobe. Pale Male came racing from the west causing the other bird to leap from its perch. The two faced each other in mid-air flashing talons at each other for a couple of seconds but the immature quickly quit the fight and headed north west. Pale Male took over the bird’s perch only long enough to belt out a loud “KIR” call and then he headed in the direction of his nest.