Snow is gently falling around the house. The ground is white and the
evergreens are beautifully dusted with snow. The boys and I were visiting in
the living room while Bethany prepared lunch. Suddenly Marlin announced, "A
hawk just landed on something at the edge of our yard."
Several of us grabbed binoculars, and there sat a Red-shouldered Hawk on a
rodent. When he bent over and grabbed is with his beak, we could see he had
captured a meadow vole (field mouse). He looked around with the rodent
dangling. The fat body and relatively short tail of the rodent swinging
around below the beak of our observant hawk begged for a photograph. Should
I give it a try, or continue watching?
I made a dive for it. Downstairs I grabbed a 400mm lens with a camera
attached along with a sturdy tripod. As I reappeared upstairs, the boys said
he just ate it. "He stretched it out about 8 inches, then down it went in
one big gulp."
Before I could set up the camera, he flew to the branches of a tree. Within
a minute or two, he dropped to the ground again, this time deeper in the
woods. Darren soon had binoculars on him, and sure enough, he had another
prey-presumably a rodent. He was too far out for a photo, but obviously he
is having lunch.
This was ten minutes ago-now I'm heading for my lunch.
Kevin Shank
Rockingham County
