We have a hawk in the neighborhood. My neighbor Jim gets mad every time he sees it and sometimes even says he is going into his house and comes back with his gun, saying if it tries to attack one of his little chipmunks in his yard he will blow its head off. So far, he has been all talk. This is a neighborhood, you can’t be shooting firearms.
Well, I don’t expect hawks to be like Henry Hawk of the old cartoons with the rooster Foghorn Leghorn pulling a fast one on him. Hawks have to eat too, and their body needs fresh flesh, blood, and guts. And to get such items they have to kill. It is nature, nothing personal.
I see our neighborhood hawk from time to time high up in a tree, dignified, with his head high, like he could care less what is on the ground crawling around. I am sure he, in his own way, is keeping tabs on every thing crawling below him. When he does see something that whets his appetite he falls so gracefully from his limb and in one snatch, gets it and goes on his way (or her way).
We also have blue jay birds that come in a group and take over my critter feeders. They remind me of a street gang that show up, push everybody around then fly away. Blue Jays scream and squawk a lot like they are complaining and threatening…. And they eat other bird’s eggs, and if they see another type of bird, or a squirrel or chipmunk they will peck at it to run it off. The blue jays are a bunch of ass holes – that is what they do best.
I have seen blue jays scream and peck at visiting crows and chase them way.
On the other hand, crows scream and attack hawks. I have seen a group of crows gang up on the neighborhood hawk and chase him away and trying to attack him high in the air.
From time to time I see a little clump of fur in the yard, usually a squirrel’s. I know it was meal for the hawk and he didn’t clean up after himself. Yesterday while loading up the feeders for the winter storm that was suppose to come (but didn’t) I saw a clump of blue jay feathers. Animal Kingdom Justice.
8 comments:
Justice, indeed. We used to have a hawk but he must have moved on to greener pastures. I miss seeing him swoop down on unsuspecting critters.He was so regal looking.
Judy,
They are regal or royal looking aren't they?
Sadly, the hawks I see here are not the regal and majestic kinds...
Suzanne,
You are talking about the kind of hawk that leans against a lamp post and checks out the passing females - right?
We see them all the time up here in the hills, and believe me it is one of the cool things about being rural
Steve,
Occasionally I see a buzzard gliding so gracefully in the sky, circling with its mind focusing on something - then I think soon that buzzard will be eating rotten meat and it doesn't seem so graceful anymore.
The buzzard is a wonderful bird. When he is taking off he takes forever to get going, but once he is up there, he doesnt even have to flap his wings. Also, the Wright Brothers first figured out that they would need a flap for an airplanes wings after seeing a buzzard curl the end of its wings to turn those circles.
You are right though they are nasty as hell when you think about it.
Steve,
Well, the buzzards probably think we are nasty as hell too, if they thought about -cooking all that lovely red and pink flesh into ugly brown and all.
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