Lunchtime for the Red-Tailed Hawk

Today Joan noticed the crows making lots of noise. Well, they usually do that, but this time it was loud and angry. She discovered that a red-tailed hawk was in the trees at the edge of the woods eating lunch. I grabbed my camera and gently opened the back door. The hawk gave me enough time for two pictures, one with better exposure, and then decided he didn't care for my looks, flying deeper into the woods to complete his repast.

If you click on the photo, you can see some meat in the hawk's beak, and that the victim is a bird with white underparts and pink legs and feet. I can't identify it, though.

red in tooth and claw

Sharp-eyed Joan spotted a hawk sitting on a log a short ways into our woods, having a meal. I walked very slowly (step, pause, step) towards him and got one decent picture --- click on it -- before he decided to fly elsewhere with the carcass.

We investigated the log and found, in addition to some plucked garlic mustard, a bunch of grey feathers plucked from the raptor's prey.

Everybody's gotta eat.