October 7, 2008
The Wild Birds of the Financial District
Alex Clemens -- ruler of Barbary Coast Consulting, SFUsualSuspects.com, and, well, pretty much SF politics as many of you know it -- sent us these images of wildlife found right here in SF's financial district. Specifically, at Barbary Coast Consulting, located at Third and Market (It's one of the most gorgeous offices we've had the pleasure of getting smashed in. Also, they have a lanai. Who has a lanai?! Clemens does, that's who. Brilliant.)
Name-dropping aside, after contacting the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory, Clemens found out that this (hungry!) bird is an adult Red-tailed Hawk.
Anyway, it's a "a fun glimpse of the Financial District that many people don’t know about." Check out these images of the hawk dining on controversial urban color.
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I wonder if this is one of the hawks that roost on the old PacBell building on Second Street. Either way, I'm very glad to see them healthy and feeding--especially on pigeons.
That is a true public servant.
Bully for red tailed hawks! Death to filth bomb pigeons, spreading their Legionnaire's Disease all over the place. Let's go buy more and better red tailed hawks! Also peregrine falcons, bald eagles, golden eagles, and that bird from "Falcon Crest." Yay!
Foolish pigeon. It should have never consented to giving that hawk a ride on its back, but I'm glad it did. These pictures make me feel giddy. Am I finally becoming an asshole? *crosses fingers*
hours later and I'm checking back ...
yep. still awesome.
Thank you for including this story on ist, Brock.
We were all kind of stunned last week when we heard a thump on our outside deck (OK, lanai - that's a cooler word) and looked outside to see a rather self-satisfied Huge Bird and his lunch, which a few minutes earlier had been a dumb-ass pigeon.
After catching our breath, my colleague Jaime Salinas and I took turns pretending to be brave by getting somewhat near Mr. Death Bird and taking pictures of him and his main course. By "brave" and "near," I mean "fifteen feet away and ready to run for cover whilst squealing if he makes a move in our direction." While we have a slight weight advantage over the bird, he has wings, a Beak of Death and apparently no compunction about killing things.
He sat out there for fifteen or twenty minutes - both on the deck and on the planter - before flying up to the roof and dining. Messily. Feather cleanup on the deck took a while, I've gotta say.
At Barbary Coast, we work in the field of politics, and we usually try to seek common ground and consensus on behalf of our clients. However, Mr. Death Bird gave us a good object lesson about one of the fundamental rules of politics - the entity that's willing to do what the other entity is NOT willing to do frequently wins - and frequently then has a pigeon for lunch.
Thanks for writing this up, Brock. Come over for cocktails and Wild Kingdom anytime.
somebody alert PETA, this is an outrage!
Love it! One down, four bazillion left.