Thursday, January 24, 2013

A Pair of Red Shouldered Hawks Wait For A Meal

The sun finally came out after several days of gray skies, bitter cold, wind, and plenty of lake-effect snow. Along with the sun came many birds, which have been somewhat absent from our back yard feeder for the last few days. There were so many birds at the feeder and in nearby trees that I got my camera and spent some time taking photographs.   When the squirrels in the yard began to bark and run for the trees, and the blue jays began to scream and scold, I knew that a predator was close by. It didn’t take long for me to find a pair of red shouldered hawks sitting in the nearby apple tree. They both seemed unfazed by me, and only when a few blue jays dive bombed them did one of the pair leave the area. The other remained in the apple tree for 2 more hours, likely hoping for a “snack” of some hapless bird at our bird feeder. (We’ve seen many birds get picked off by hawks while near our feeder, so we can only think that to the raptors, our feeder is a fast food restaurant.)






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