Living Desert Part 3 ~~I meet a kestrel

As a member, I can enter the park after 8:00 a.m. and I'm an early riser, so I was there pretty early.  We'd had a frost here in town that morning, so I layered and off I went with only my camera and wallet.  It was pretty cold in the shady areas, but, like a roadrunner, I stayed in the sun to warm up!  I even spread out my arms a couple of times to let the sun's rays warm me!  I didn't see any roadrunners, but I scared off a couple of rabbits!

I also had a near-close encounter with a hawk.  I was walking through the butterfly garden, when suddenly....WHOOSH! It made a dive bomb and swooshed so close to my head that the hairs on my head actually raised up!  He didn't hit me, but it was a CLOSE CALL!  I only saw a dark-colored hawk (no white).  It looked gray underneath, so it wasn't a Cooper's hawk.  I have no idea what it was and it flew into a nearby palm tree.  Maybe a Harris hawk, although they are brown, not gray.  It was a fairly large hawk, too...definitely NOT something as small as a Kestrel.

Speaking of Kestrels, this little guy was out with his handler as I walked back toward the cafe and gift shop.  We USED to have Kestrels in our neighborhood, but, with the arrival of the Cooper's hawks, they have disappeared.  That's sad because I used to love to hear their little cries in the mornings.

I talked to the little hawk's handler for a while and found out his name is "Cujo".  He is an injured bird and will NOT ever be released back into the wild.  He is a beautiful little thing, don't you think? She told me one morning she had him out when a Cooper's hawk swooshed down toward Cujo!  Only her quick actions saved the little guy!  Talk about scary!!!  Isn't he adorable?

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