October 31st - Hawk Mountain and the Owls

At Hawk Mt. Sanctuary, in the end of August, hawks, falcons, birds of prey that live eating meat, snakes, rabbits, mice, fish, frogs, all come by the hundreds and the thousands and they migrate along the ridges. George and I went with a friend to look at them, and we had heavy clouds, fog, light drizzle and we saw only a few in the distance. It was kinda disappointing. But we learned a lot about them in the museum reading about them. And something fantastic that I didn't realize, owls have two sets of ears, separated. So when a sound comes, it hits one and registers, and it hits the other a few millimeters behind and they can triangulate where the sound is coming from so that in pitch black they can pounce on a mouse if the mouse makes the slightest stirring. Their hearing zeroes in like radar. The other thing I learned is that their feathers around their ears are attached to muscles and they can move those feathers to amplify sound so that they are actually beveling around sound boards with feathers to increase their ability to pick up sound. It's amazing what nature has adapted. It's fantastic, and they are beautiful and wonderful, those owls.

Later the next day, I'm walking with two hikers who had heard about me and met me on the trail, Beth Ann and Mary Theresa. And as I'm walking, I'm looking at the floor and Beth Ann said, "Look at the birds." And I turned and right at my shoulder, off the edge of the ridge were maybe 50 or 60 turkey vultures, circling in big circles. They had caught the updraft, and they did a spiral or barrel. It was beautiful. They were 10 feet over our heads and we could see them and feel their shadows going over us with their huge wings. It was mysterious and wonderful, and we sat there looking at them for 20 minutes.

  - Jacques d'Amboise