In this afternoon's walk, a beautiful redtail hawk, sitting in the tree nearby, watching for her next meal -- look at those claws and her furry legs -- my alltime favorite bird. About a second after I took this picture, she took off with a huge swoop of wings and bore down on some poor little guy in the grass in the distance. These are fearless birds.
In the winter they will, when really hungry, because their small prey is underground, raid bird feeders to pick off small songbirds. One time I was filling a bird feeder in January, and a redtail swooped down, and literally parted my hair on her way to the feeder. She would never have hurt me, they're much too acrobatic for that, but it definitely got my attention. The only other bird who ever did that was a pet parrot, testing my nerves the first time I took care of him. Like a little kid, trying it on for size.
Then, just up the street a bit, squirrels, the comic relief of the outdoor world, sat playing bookends.
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