This is where he sits most of the afternoon. Some times he forgets himself and pounces and ends up with a squashed nose!
It is already a busy week and it's only Tuesday. Got hit with about 6 projects. Knew they were coming, but not all at the same time. The weather is still hot, (for us) and humid. The only way we know it's moving into fall is if you go down one or two streets that are lined with Maple or Plane trees and the leaves are shriveling and brown. We don't have too many streets like that, but there are some and it always comes as a surprise to me when I see them, that it is nearly fall.
The hawk has been back several times. In fact he was just here and perched on the top of the feeder. But he flew off too quickly to get a photo.
Whoops! He just came back, swooping past the fence outside the den window about ten feet from the house. He was chasing a little bird, but I don't think he got it, because this is the picture I took of him not two minutes later. I was ready for him this time.
So you put out the bird seed and first come the sparrows, then the mourning doves, then come the squirrels, then come the rats and then comes the hawk -- the circle of life. So what comes after the hawk??? Flying elephants???
9 comments:
After the hawks.. maybe BIGGER hawks?
Living in a warm climate, don't you miss the 4 seasons? I love the colours of Autumn here, so beautiful.
LOL Chris! I'd HATE to be under a flying Elephant! The Hawk is beautiful
Our cats love to watch the chipmunks.
Hey Chris in a conversation I had with Dumbo he told me he was coming to visit, you better make sure that feeder is fully stocked. lol
Chris, I posted a little something in my Arizona photo blog just for you.
No, the hawk didn't get the bird because in two minutes he would still be waiting on the bird to expire.
They seldom intentionally pierce the body with those talons but use them as a kind of cage to envelop the bird and then they stop and perch and squeeze the bird to death. Honestly.
They will keep checking and looking to see if there is any glimmer of life and when there is none they will begin to take off the feathers in bunches and finally start pulling off meat to eat.
I can't tell you how many times my wife and I have filmed this process and watched it. It is one of the more interesting parts of living like I do and having a backyard that attracts visitors of all kinds.
There are life and death struggles here all the time, from sick squirrels to a blizzard of feathers falling down after a hawk strikes a bird in the air and that shock kills the bird instantly and knocks it out of its feathers just like a car hits a person and knocks him out of his shoes.
You guessed correctly - a free trip including hotel! Now I am heading east - Martyn to follow in a plane! Visiting sister, dad then 2 sons and their wives!!
how lovely to have all that wildlife! we have cats, squirrels and musang (a sort of big furry ferret type creature) Plus tonnes of little birds who twitter all day. Luckily our cats don't catch any :-) Bet yours will be a bit careful with that hawk around!
I have a friend who is fascinated by the sequence of life at the feeders in the winter. He was saying exactly the same thing! I don't get hawks at my feeders, but I do get shrikes. And they will eat birds and the little red squirrels. Wonderful photos, Chris!
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