A couple weeks ago, I stepped outside on a Friday afternoon to sit and relax. I was planning on playing guitar for a bit, but distractingly, the robins were calling loudly.
I soon saw why.
Perched in a tree was a red-shouldered hawk. We’ve seen a couple of them flying around the neighborhood, a juvenile and the adult; this is probably the juvenile. But I hadn’t managed to get my camera in hand to photograph them previously.
Luckily, this one was focused elsewhere, and waited for me to run inside and grab my camera.
The hawk was clearly aware we were there, but did not mind us looking and snapping photos.
The robins kept complaining. The hawk was very close to their nest.
Luckily for the robins and their eggs, the hawk had other plans. After a few minutes, it shot down from the tree and into the yard.
The hawk had caught a snake!
I took some photos and video of the hawk eating. As you might guess, these include a snake and a nonzero amount of its guts; click below if and only if you’re cool with seeing those things.
Dinner time!
This was a really neat experience! I’ve not had this good a look at a wild raptor before, nor seen one doing its thing in such detail. Hopefully the hawk will visit again soon–we’ll try to keep the yard well-stocked with native prey.
See the equipment page for the hardware and software I used.
All photos by Charles Eckman. All rights reserved, but contact me if you want to use these photos for something.