JOURNALS

February 11, 2026 - A CLOSE ENCOUNTER WITH COOPER 

You guessed it. Cooper is a Cooper's Hawk - a juvenile Cooper's to be exact. I'm sure you've all seen Cooper's Hawks but up close and personal? By close I mean almost within touching distance close. Believe or not, I had such an experience on Feb. 11. 

After a brisk and refreshing morning stroll to the Englishman River estuary I drove slowly towards the gate of the new nature centre. I was about 10 meters away when I was startled by a Cooper's Hawk landing on the ground right in front of me. He proceeded to dart into a bush and flushed a black bunny that scurried across the road and under a pile of logs. Cooper flew up onto the gate post, surveyed the situation, then cruised over to the pile of logs to look for the bunny. 

With the bunny safely concealed under the logs, Cooper reluctantly admitted defeat and flew to a nearby hydro pole. After several minutes of meditation and relaxation he flew across the road onto a log by the beach.

I followed hoping that Cooper had some prey to pursue, but he just sat like a lump on the log with his back to the morning sun. I wasn't sure what was happening, but I took a couple of record shots then stood and watched for about ten minutes hoping for a vole or mouse to pop up for some action. Unfortunately, this wasn't a rodent day so I decided to carefully approach Cooper to encourage him to hop up to the bank or fly to the nearby Douglas-fir. I was within 3 meters, but Cooper seemed oblivious to my presence or didn't care. He just turned his head to give me the hawk-eye then turned his eyes away from me. At this point I was too close for my 500 mm lens so I pulled out my iphone for a brief video. 3 m was still too far for the iphone so I inched closer and closer. I was two steps from Cooper when I reached out and shot a video of him turning his head to look at me then away. I tried to strike up a conversation with him. I asked him why he was so trusting, but he just ignored me. Finally, I backed off until I was far enough for a head shot then proceeded back to my car. Cooper was still there when I got in my car, but he finally flew as I drove off.

I have had close encounters with shorebirds, snipes, Pygmy Owls, Grouse, and even eagles, but this was my first with a Cooper's. I have no explanation why I was permitted to get so close. I'm known as a bird-friendly person, but Cooper didn't know that. Normally, the hawk would have flown as soon as I was 20 m away, but 2 steps? One more step and I could have touched him. I know he was enjoying the warm morning sun but was that enough to allow potential danger to be so close? As my high school shop teacher would say when trying to understand the mysteries of student behaviour - GOD ONLY KNOWS!

February 24, 2026 - A VISIT WITH KASSIE THE KESTREL

Birding these days is like a crapshoot. You never know whether you'll find anything unlike the good old days when you couldn't help but encounter birds wherever you went. That's how my day started last week. First it was Little Mountain hoping for a Sooty Grouse, Pygmy Owl, or even an Anna's Hummingbird, but nothing. However, the cup was still half full - the air was fresh, the silence was therapeutic, and the view was magnificant.

My next stop was DBL to see the eagles. In the past there would be at least a 100 eagles present at this time of the year looking for a free lunch. Today there was only one sitting on top of a distant compost pile - too far for a decent shot. I was disappointed but not depressed. You guessed it. The cup was half full. The trail beside DBL was straight and long. It was the perfect place to get in some steps. I didn't mention it before, but it is important for me to get as many steps as I could every day not just for general fitness but to rebuild my hemoglobin level. I spent some time with the Grim Reaper last year, and I am still recovering. Part of the my recovery strategy is to get my daily step count up to 10,000/day - one for every species of birds in the world. Besides the steps, there were also scores of Common Ravens gliding with the wind and thermals right beside the trail to amuse me. They weren't my photo targets, but they were still fun to watch.

Just down the hill from DBL was Coldwater Road that ran along the edge of a large field. There are usually one or two American Kestrels on the hydro line that crossed the field. I hadn't bothered chasing them for the past couple of years, but I was ready today. Would anybody be home?
 

I was in luck. The female kestrel was home on her usual hydro line perch. I pulled over and took a shot out the car window then sat and watched to see what she would do next.

A few minutes later, she took flight. I thought that was the end of my photo session, but it wasn't. She didn't fly far before she started hovering, but she was too far away for any reasonable shots. But, after 30 seconds she flew closer and hovered again. This time she was close enoigh for a decent shot.

She seemed to hover forever but finally had her prey in her sights. Adjusting her wings, she launched her attack. Unfortunately, I was blocked out by a large blackberry thicket and couldn't see if the she caught her prey or missed.

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