Tag: Prey

A Bird’s Eye View

toddsbackyard

One afternoon, in the soft Autumn light, a figure appeared that caught everyone’s sight. Sitting tall and calm on a twisted tree limb, he surveyed his surroundings to see if the pickin’s were slim.

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The visible visitor was very pleased to find, the pickin’s where plenty and amusingly terrified! He always loved to watch the show, as his prey panicked and scurried and freaked out below!  Now, satisfied he would have a nice hearty meal, he sat back and relaxed to watch everyone squeal!

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The sparrows swarmed and hid in the bushes, the quail dove under cactus to cover their tushes. The doves left the scene in a winged whoosh of flurry and the squirrels dove in their holes in a psycho crazed hurry! All the while, their feathered foe took his time, primping and plotting his culinary crime.

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When he was sufficiently refreshed and ready to rock…”Now, my little morsels, time to eat!” Screeched Mr. Hawk. His tail twitched, his eyes focused as he scanned Todd’s Backyard. He looked and he looked, he looked very hard. Something was amiss…where had all the food gone? He knew he had seen it!…Had he been wrong? Then he reminded himself, he chose to snooze, and of course you know what they say….

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Keep your eyes on the prize!…And don’t be a fool 😉

sHawk and Awe!

toddsbackyard

It looks like Todd’s Backyard has become the favorite local dining spot for some of our fierce feathered friends! We can’t sit outside for more than a moment, when a furious flurry of chirps and squawks erupt, along with a burst of birds scattering in all directions…chased by a hawk looking for dinner!

We have several different varieties of hawks that feast on TBY’s vast menu of varmint vittles…

Probably the most awesome, is the Harris hawk- certainly one of the larger birds we see. His wingspan is almost 4 feet! You surely know when he’s around!

I think this is a Cooper’s Hawk. They’re a little harder to spot ’cause they really blend in! Extremely stealthy…We’ve seen these guys pick a dove right out of the sky and vanish. The only evidence of conquest, is a rain of feathers gently floating to the ground where the action took place.

This guy treated us to a little dance one afternoon.  We watched him fluff  ‘n’ puff,  hopping and screeching, up and down the wall of our neighbor’s fence…..Looking for love perhaps? It was a dazzling display that lasted for a good 15 minutes. We never did see the object of his desire, but we heard the other hawk calling back.

This is my favorite ‘Hawk Shot’! Gorgeous!

This is a photo ‘painting’ I created from a pic taken the other day.  (Just thought I’d throw it in, since I’m talkin’ some hawkin!)

As we look forward to the blasting furnace of summer in the desert, we could only hope that the hungry hawk’s flash and dash might create just enough wing generated breeze – perhaps to cool, but certainly to awe!