Over the past few months, I’ve featured several posts on the wonderful Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus). But yesterday morning, I was treated to a wonderful sight on my covered front porch at home. While looking out the window, our Red-shouldered Hawk flew onto the railing that goes around the porch. Although not a common sight, we have seen him there at least once before yesterday. Previously, we had thought that he was probably after some of our birds that frequent the bird feeders we have on the porch, but we’ve never seen a bird taken by this hawk (except a Bronzed Grackle that was foraging along the edge of the woods). But this time, he seemed to be more interested in something on the porch floor, cocking his head from one side to the other as if looking for something.
As we watched him, he suddenly swept off the railing and grabbed a small field mouse as it ran across the porch floor! Seeing a mouse run across the porch is also not an unusual event. On many occasions we have sat and watched one or two mice run about the porch, looking for dropped seed from the bird feeders.
Upon grabbing the mouse, our hawk abruptly launched into the air and flew into the nearby woods (my neighbor recently told me there was a hawk nest in one of her trees … maybe my Red-shouldered Hawk friend!). Unfortunately, I was not able to grab any photos of the capture. But I was content to witness this event, up close. And the next time our hawk friends visits our porch, I won’t be quite so worried about our little bird friends!
Here are a few of the Red-shouldered Hawk images I’ve posted in past blog posts:
Wishing you a Fun Friday :o)