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Red-tailed hawks putting on remarkable territorial displays in Glen Canyon

March 10, 2017 by Elizabeth Weise

20170124_154312-1
A red-tailed hawk, which fell from a Glen Canyon tree on January 24, 2017.

By Murray Schneider

Catherine Symon and her daughter, Natalie, experienced a unique event on January 24, as they left Glen Canyon’s Glenridge Nursery School. After school was dismissed, Symon accompanied four-year old Natalie along a path paralleling Alms Road, a path they’ve taken eight times a week for two years.

“I heard a rustling of branches high in a tree and had enough time to turn around,” said Symon, who lives on Mount Davidson. “Then there was a thud. I thought it might be another great-horned owl such as the one found dead last March.”

That owl was a victim of second generation rodenticide.

Instead, it was a red-tailed hawk, one of the most common birds of prey in North America. A keen-eyed hunter that circles for prey from Canada to Panama, the hawk is known for its brick-colored tail and preference for open spaces with mixed forests and grasslands.

IMG_9547-1
Catherine Symon and her daughter, Natalie, standing a few feet from where a hawk landed on the ground near Glenridge Nursery School on January 31, 2017.

“It was a remarkable sight,” said Symon, who is a medical writer. “It dropped straight down from a tree top about twenty feet from the creek. I thought for sure it was close to death, as it wasn’t moving save for some very slow, shallow breathing.”

The bird remained on its back for five minutes, only yards from Islias Creek, amidst ground stenciled with eucalyptus duff.

“Natalie still remembers its talons and feathers,” said Symon

“I took a photo,” she continued, “but a minute later three unleased dogs approached the slope.”

Sensing the intrusion, the hawk righted itself.

“It hopped to its feet, looked at one dog, then flew off,” she said. “Hopefully, it wasn’t injured; it certainly seemed to fly with no problems.”

Glen Canyon has its share of mice, squirrels, a raccoon or skunk or two, even coyotes, but no one has yet sighted a possum.

The odd behavior was probably part of a territorial display, said Allen Fish, director of the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory.

“I have been seriously watching hawks since 1979, and I have seen only two raptors fall to the ground and heard of a third observed by a colleague,” Fish told the Glen Park News. “The third was two juvenile red-tailed hawks talon-grappling near Woodside. The biologist watched as they locked talons, did some spinning but as they fell, seemed unable to disengage. Both birds hit the ground, one righted itself and flew off, the other died.”

This is the time of year for such territorial displays, Allen Fish explained.

“Red-tailed hawks really go after one another about this time,” emailed Fish. “One of their routines, territorial or pre-nuptial, is to fly near each other, grab talons and spin. This is known as cartwheeling.”

As if doubling down, Catherine Symon experienced a second hawk encounter seven days later on January 31, either combat or courtship.

“It was at Glenridge about 12:30, near the Redwood stand,” said Symon. “A hawk was standing alone on the ground beneath a tree.”

The nursery school was transitioning between its morning and afternoon sessions. All but two children were inside.

Symon posted herself where the Willow Creek Trail begins, about a dozen feet from the downed raptor. She remained there, ready to alert dog walkers to bypass what she believed was another stricken bird. Mame Campbell, the school’s director, gathered the remainder of children and several parents and hustled them inside, then called Animal Control.

The solitary hawk eventually lifted off, winging to the building’s roof, soon joined by another.

While Symon didn’t witness the resumption of the cartwheeling, she’s seen hawks pin wheeling parabolas many times, as her southern-facing windows overlook Glen Park Elementary School, six hundred and fifty feet below.

From this height, she’s witnessed her share of feathered aerial acrobatics.

But her ground level perspective put a new spin on avian gymnastics.

“I have a much better appreciation now for how powerful and agile and, in the case of what Natalie and I witnessed on January 24, the resilience of these birds,” she said. “It looked so stunned, yet it flew away.”

As for Allen Fish, who makes a career studying raptors.

“I think the woman who stood next to the thud witnessed an extremely rare event.”

 

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Glen Park Association is at Glen Park Greenway.
9 hours ago
Glen Park Association

More people are discovering our Glen Park Greenway to Glen Canyon Park!

#glenparkgreenway #glenparksf #sanfrancisco #takeawalk #walk #hike #urban #urbanexplorer #crosstowntrail
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More people are discovering our Glen Park Greenway to Glen Canyon Park!

#glenparkgreenway #glenparksf #sanfrancisco #takeawalk  #walk #hike #urban #urbanexplorer #crosstowntrail
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Glen Park Association is at Glen Park Greenway.
4 days ago
Glen Park Association

Saturday’s Glen Park Greenway Work Party is Cancelled.

“I’m very sorry to say that
we have cancelled our Work Party for this Saturday July 12, along with all organized volunteer activity on the Greenway until further notice.
As you may have read in the news, our fiscal sponsor, San Francisco Parks Alliance (SFPA), has shut itself down. Just as SFPA has shut itself down, the Greenway, as an organized part of SFPA, has also been “shut down.” We are busy looking for a suitable alternative fiscal sponsor that is willing to replace SFPA. That search is going well but it is a slow process. We had hoped to find temporary ways to enable the Greenway project to function responsibly as a community activity without a fiscal sponsor. Sadly, despite our best efforts and the help of many others in Glen Park, we have failed. That is why we must cancel our Saturday Work Party and discontinue future work parties and other organized volunteer activity on the Greenway (like weeding and watering) until further notice. We recognize that the Greenway is public open space and that the organizers of the Greenway project have no control over the activities of you or of anyone else on the Greenway. However, if you do venture onto the Greenway to satisfy your urge for outdoor recreation, please be aware that your activity is not in any way organized or sanctioned by the organizers of the Glen Park Greenway project. I’m well aware of the efforts that many of the
Greenway’s supporters are making to get the Greenway organized with a new fiscal sponsor and I’m confident that this will be arranged within weeks or perhaps a few months.
However long it takes, I will contact you with news of our progress.
Many thanks for all that you do for the Greenway.”

Nicholas Dewar, volunteer Project Director

#glenparkgreenway #glenparksf #sanfrancisco @rafaelmandelmand8 @danielluriesf @crosstowntrail
#crosstowntrail #sfparksalliance #publicspace #nature
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1 CommentComment on Facebook

Wonder what’s stopping just organizing it separate from that non-profit. It seems like the volunteers largely come from Glen Park.

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