Red-shouldered Hawk and Starling

Back on February 13th Joan spotted a red-shouldered hawk with something in its talons. Followed by a second hawk, it flew to a tree in front of our neighbors house. The trailing hawk perched above it, hoping for a morsel, but received none, even though we are certain they are a mating pair.

At first the hawk was on a tree branch.

It began working on the starling up there, plucking feathers. It takes a while to get to the meat.

The desperate starling suddenly began thrashing, or perhaps it was just its death throes. In any case, the hawk lost its grip on the carcass and had to land on the ground to retain possession of the prize.

Here's a video clip of the hawk working on its lunch. Note the regularity with which its looks up and scans its surroundings, checking for any threats.


Life and death in the woods!

Enthusiastic Bathing Birdies

I checked our BirdCam to see if we'd been fortunate enough to snap a photo of the hawk capturing his lunch. No such luck, but we did get a series of pictures of enthusiastic bathers, which I winnowed down to a few. In summer the birds appreciate a good bath to rid themselves of pests and parasites, and in winter our birdbath, heated just enough to never freeze, exerts an intense attraction.

Here a female cardinal splashes daintily as a junco awaits her turn.

Among the prettiest visitors are the blue jays.

Sometimes the camera catches an avian citizen in flight.

Some species prefer to quickly fly by the bath first, inspecting it on the wing, and perch just beyond. Only when everything looks satisfactory will they land on the rim, and even then they are constantly scanning for danger (deservedly so!). Others, particularly the cardinals, prefer to sneak up on the birdbath by hopping through the honeysuckle vines that entwine the step railings, emerging only at the last moment. 

Robins are year-round, but the bath in winter is a special point of congregation.

Handsome winter-time pests are the starlings. Their peroxided feather-edges catch they eye, but they'll empty the birdbath just from splashing around, and then poop in it.

The petite tufted titmouse is the best. Whee!