I had a spooky experience this morning.
With all the snow, the bird feeders were very low. Itou went out
first thing this morning to fill them. Something large flew by,
but I only saw it out of the corner of my eye.
After filling the bird feeders, I went back to the garage to get
some corn to leave for the wild turkeys that come through our
yard. (It is illegal in my town to feed the deer.) As I return,
the birds were already crowding the feeders -- blue jays,
cardinals, finches, titmice, juncos, flickers and a red headed
woodpecker. As I passed the feeders, I heard a loud "thwack" just
behind and above me. Then, I was a large bird flutter to the
ground about 50 feet away. My first thought was that it had flown
into on of the cedar trees behind me, although that didn't make
much sense. As it went by, I thought it might be a dove, but it
was too large and too brown, and it seemed to have a bright red chest.
It stayed on the ground, watching me, so I slowly moved closer,
finally getting within about 20 feet. I looked up at me, then
lifted off and flew away. At that point I recognized that it was a
hawk, possibly a Cooper's, and the red "chest" turned out to be a
male cardinal it had snatched right out of the air.
Of course, I wish I had brought one of my Pentax cameras out with
me, but everything happened so fast, I know I wouldn't hve been
able to get anything.
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