Enjoy the picture above, because once I tell the story you might enjoy it a little less!
Tuesday morning we were all in the kitchen when Matthew said, "Hey look at that!"
This majestic bird was sitting on our deck. Initially we were wondering if it was a young bird, because it appeared to have feathers around it and we were unsure if it had hatched recently. Of course it was huge, which really should have cleared that up for us.
Anyway, we started thinking (ok Ken started thinking) that he probably was stopping on our deck to enjoy his breakfast and that he probably had gotten one of the bunnies we have seen in our neighborhood. I told Ken that was all fine, but he had to clean up the mess! During the clean up Ken decided that our hawk had gotten a bird that was protecting its nest as he found shells etc. Additionally, this explained why the small bird didn't get away.
As a child, this probably would have bothered me, but I think my kids are used to the concept that some animals eat other animals (we get Ranger Rick and they don't pull their punches on this fact). Anyway, I liked the fact that my kids still enjoyed nature despite the yuck factor. On the trip to school we talked about all the names you can give to an animal that eats other animals (carnivore, meat-eater, predator etc.) Science in the morning!
We have some big birds like that diving our yard some days. I am guessing they too are looking for snacks like your bird. So far they haven't come up so close to say hello like your bird did! Wild stuff!
ReplyDeleteWhoa! That's amazing. Yesterday must have been bird day. I spent part of the afternoon discouraging a family of swallows from reestablishing residence over my front door. No offense to Audubon, but I'm not interested in a nest there for the third year in a row. The swallows get mean. Hawks too.
ReplyDeleteThat is a great picture! We were lucky enough to see an owl sitting on a telephone wire the other night!
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