Wednesday Vignette: Not on the menu?

The best thing about my home office is the view out my window.  Every so often I look up to catch sight of something interesting.  Last week, I saw a hawk land in the mimosa tree.  Hawks don't come close to the house all that often and they rarely hang around for long.  In this case, instead of flying off after a moment's rest, he turned his head back and forth scanning my garden, as well as the horizon behind him.

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I think this is a Cooper's Hawk

Among other things, his prey is supposed to include squirrels.  Apparently, his scan didn't involve looking down.

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Directly below him was Mr. Squirrel, hard at work stealing seed from the so-called "squirrel-buster" bird feeder

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Mr. Squirrel appears as oblivious to their proximity as Mr. Hawk

The squirrel can never sustain his gymnastics on the bird feeder for long.  He inevitably loses his balance and falls to the ground but he recovers quickly and usually makes several forays in a row.  He made at least two runs at the feeder as I watched.  The hawk never moved.

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But he looked up as soon as I went out the door to get a better picture

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And he immediately took off

Mr. Squirrel lives on, working hard to perfect his acrobatic skills during his raids on my feeders.

For more Wednesday Vignettes, visit Anna at Flutter and Hum.


All material © 2012-2019 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party