Red-tailed Hawk and his (or her) lunch

[jbrown14]

Hanging out at home this past Saturday afternoon when a Red-tailed Hawk took a Gray Squirrel in my back yard. We see him (or her) on and off quite regularly and I've found evidence of his kills in the past, like Mourning Dove feathers and skin and a couple of his flight feathers on the ground, but I've never seen him actively eating a kill. He was only about 40 feet or so from my back windows, sitting on my low rock wall behind the pool.

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Distracted by Chickadees buzzing around

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Tearing a piece off

After the first few shots, I tried out a different angle and decided to try out shooting through my spotting scope that I had sitting around.

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You can really see the meat he's tucking into there

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Intensity in those eyes, "U WOT M8?"

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Head down with a little Myrtle falling over the limestone slab

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The characteristic red tail

He finished his lunch, then flew up into my apple tree where he shook the carcass a couple of times, dropped it, and flew up into one of the dead Black Cherry trees back there.

I went out later to examine the remains, and he had eaten only the very best parts of meat leaving the body cavity totally intact and only a few talon marks. The head was completely untouched.

It was funny to watch all the songbirds whizzing around the yard in a tizzy because he was there. I must have had almost a dozen Cardinals taking shelter in the old apple tree.

My 6 year old twins obsolutely LOVED seeing this lovely raptor so close.

Thanks for looking!

Josh

[saxonaxe]

What a fantastic series of photos Josh, brilliant!.. " Intensity in those eyes" With his eyesight he was probably looking straight back down your spotting scope ..:D His camouflage against the dead growth in the background is great isn't it? Lucky youngsters too a good lesson, with Dad there to explain.

[OakAshandThorn]

T^ Our most loved raptor here in the northeast :).

[jbrown14]

What a fantastic series of photos Josh, brilliant!.. " Intensity in those eyes" With his eyesight he was probably looking straight back down your spotting scope ..:D His camouflage against the dead growth in the background is great isn't it? Lucky youngsters too a good lesson, with Dad there to explain.

Thanks! You should see him perched in the trees back there, his camouflage really does well then. I love these birds!

I'm blessed to have kids that are interested in the outdoors and learning. My daughter gave a little *gasp* when I said I thought it might be eating a rabbit, because she thinks they're so cute, but she didn't get all bent out of shape. She was relieved, though when it was "just a squirrel." :D

Just this past Wednesday, my son (they're a set, one-of-each-twins, two peas in a pod...) brought half a deer jawbone in to school for show and tell. They have a great teacher who loves nature this year too.

[jbrown14]

UPDATE! My wife texted me this afternoon and said that a second hawk has joined the first today! It would be a great coup if we ended up with a nesting pair in our area!