The snow has given Larry a few days off from work, allowing him time to just hang out at home and enjoy the scenery, loll around and smell the flowers, as it were. So he was enjoying the unaccustomed sight of a snow-covered landscape through our living room window the other day when he spotted something new. "Hey, kids!" he called. "Look at that bird near the feeder!" The children rushed to the window to behold a stunning feathered creature of the hawk variety. David, our resident scientist, was puzzled. "Hawks don't eat from bird feeders, do they?" he asked. "And where are all the other birds?"Observant, that's what that kid is; more observant than his father, anyway. The dozens of sparrows, woodpeckers, chickadees which normally frequent the area around the feeder were gone - vanished. All, that is, except one...
What do hawks eat, indeed? Behold the food chain, kiddos, in living color!
We'll just check science off the homeschooling schedule for the week. Now if we could only get Susie to stop crying...
[hawk picture courtesy of wikipedia]
Since we live in the sticks, we have creatures of every kind roaming our homestead. We have hawks and let me tell you, they are fierce predators. Beautiful to watch, but...We've seen them a couple of times circle the ducks over and over again, until they dive down and snatch one of them up. It's awful and fascinating to watch at the same time. When the other critters hear the hawk's cry, most of them go into hiding.
ReplyDeleteWhen our puppies were a bit smaller they even circled them a few times! I guess they're always after the little rat terrier our neighbors own.
That would have been right up Rachel's alley, wouldn't it? Or does her fascination stop with stuffed toys?
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen any hawks since we got lambasted with the Snowpocalypse.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, it's kind of cool -- in a scientific sort of way...
Should I be sad that all we see are cardinals and juncos?
Is David your vegetarian child? Yikes, I wouldn't want to be present at that conversation.
ReplyDeleteOoooh. Ouch. "Living" color, eh? Bummer. Gotta love that circle of life...
ReplyDeleteWow. That's kind of awesome.
ReplyDeleteI wrote a post once about what hawks eat (well, sort of: http://www.magpiemusing.com/2007/06/what-hawks-eat.html) - I got a lot of hits on that post, lord knows why.
That happened to us too! It was my husband who called the kids to the window but the hawk was eating a bunny instead of a bird. Too funny!
ReplyDeleteKari
Um. I don't suppose you could tell Susie the other birds all flew away because they were *scared* of the hawk? (Which is likely true of at least some of them...)
ReplyDeleteA few days off from work, huh? That sounds good. A snowball's chance in Florida is about the same as it's chances in Hell though, huh?
ReplyDeletesnort!!
ReplyDeleteI think you need to grab a copy of "Yum Yum" by Mick Manning and Brita Granstrom. A family fave here!
ReplyDeleteYikes. Something like that happened in my neighborhood. Except it was a dog eating a discarded, rotting, cold cut sandwich off the street. ok. It was my dog.
ReplyDeleteWhat a cool pic!
ReplyDeleteI can see how that would be a little disturbing, but come on, SO COOL! Or is that just me?
ReplyDelete