This is a freezing cold bright day, the kind where you want to go out walking, but also think it would be good to have feathers. Anyone who has handled a bird knows how startlingly warm they are, in fact pet cockatoos who want to cuddle around your neck all the time can be too warm for comfort. Even a little parakeet is a warm passenger.
But big outdoor birds, I guess, are even better insulated, considering they never get under cover indoors. Here's a redtail hawk, yesterday, scoping out the possibilities for lunch
And he's found an unlucky bird.
One second after this shot, there was a flurry and a scream. Nature red in tooth and claw.
I enjoyed seeing your photo of the hawk. We have a bald eagle who flies up and down the river, every once in a while swooping down and soaring back up with a fish wriggling in his talons. I sometimes wonder about the shock it was to that fish, happily swimming along,looking for his next bit of food, and then whoosh - part of the food chain himself. Nature can be startling to me sometimes. - Jean in Cowtown
ReplyDeleteLove the hawk pictures!
ReplyDeleteI've forgotten, do you still have birds at home? Every time I go near the pet store I always spend a few minutes with the birds and I'd love to have one here. Might not be fair to Sam though.
Usually I don't comment, because I figure I get my say in the blogposts and it's only fair to let other people comment at will.
ReplyDeleteBut about birds at home: no, the last of my personal flock of parakeets, Beeper, died this year. The comments about cockatoos and other big pet birds came to mind because I've been going through old pictures of HP, and found some from our early petcare days, where he has a big cockatoo wrapped around his neck watching him prepare a great dinner of fruit and other great stuff for him, in a client house. And other pix of me with various parrots parting my hair and insisting on peanuts and so on. old film pix, not good enough to scan and post, too dark, but brought back some very good memories.
Wonderful hawk pictures! Now that we live on the river I end up feeling so sorry for the Canada Geese and mallard ducks that are seemingly choosing to brave the winter temps here. I see them swimming and wonder why their poor little feeties don't freeze in that cold water. Birds are amazing creatures.
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