A Little Walk, A Little Hawk

Today I met up with Deb and Rich for some dog walking and chatting along the canal "park".

As we came back to the bridge they pointed out that a woman with a hawk was on the bridge and that she had been there earlier in the week as well.

We watched for some time standing along the rail.  She had a walkie-talkie communicating with someone nearby.  It turns out they were coaxing the hawk to fly over and land on the hotel roof to scatter the pigeons roosting there. The local school had a couple of classes there to observe.  It really was pretty cool.  There was a little bird on the very top of the roof with something in his mouth,  While the hawk was circling and landing, taking off and landing again, that little bird never left his spot on the top.  I guess he made up his mind he wouldn't be intimidated!  If you look carefully at the picture with the hawk on the corner of the roof, you can see the little bird at the very top perched on a little finial. 

What they call pigeons here look nothing like the pigeons in New York.  These are smooth and small and of course, "dove" grey.  To me they are doves.  But I guess they make just as much mess here as they do in New York,  I hear them coo-ing everywhere.

somehow I got a picture of Deb's hand.....?   haha 

Only a bit of Klute showing......a sweet "retriever" and Skippy with Rich hanging onto both while I get pictures.

I did get a few pictures, though they are hard to see.

Afterwards, I took a different path back up to my street as the usual path is shut down for construction.

Along the way I took a few more pretty shots. Oh, and a shot of those GI-normous leaves!! Some kind of rhubarb relative.  I always forget the name.

 It was sunny out today for about 20 minutes, then the clouds rolled back in.  A few drops but warm.  My first day of summer!

So, Until next time, au revoir!!