From Nelli Photography
Last weekend’s beautiful find was a Northern Saw- Whet Owl. They look cute and cuddly, and whenever I see one, I fight the urge to hold it in my hands , but don’t let their looks fool you. They are fierce fighters and skillful hunters. Look what my little friend has in his claws!
With its dinner
Man, that is a
stunningsuperb photo. Wow.These little Saw Whets seem fairly cooperative around the camera. Great work by the photographers of all of these as well.
Those drops of blood on the beak make even closed-eye close-up a bit more bittersweet.
They are beautiful and marvelously built for their purpose, even though it isn’t always a joyous one.
On New Year’s Eve, I saw a Cooper’s Hawk catch one of my blue jay friends that I’ve bonded with these last few years. I wanted to protect my bird friend, but it was already caught, and the hawk needs to do what hawks do, so I just had to sit there. I didn’t want to scare the hawk and have the jay’s sacrifice be in vain.
But it’s a reminder these animals live hard lives, and we should cherish their existence while it is there, and we should protect what we can of the wild. It all needs each other to function the way it’s intended. It’s often beautiful, but there is a cost to everything as well.
Cooper's Hawk
Goodbye, Jay friend… 😓
I hope you keep the hawk strong and safe through the winter.
I’m sorry about your friend. 😢 But you’re right, hawks gotta eat too. There was a time that I felt like my bird feeder was just a hawk feeder, but I haven’t seen any in my yard for a while. Or they are the bigger Red-tailed Hawks that eat squirrels.
I appreciate the sentiment. I like them both, so pay off that is accepting their roles to play.
It hasn’t been around all that much, but I’ve seen it a few times before. I’ve seen it maybe twice a year. It’s got about a 50% success rate to my knowledge.
I do have some coverage near the feeders and there are trees on the other side, but this one got taken out in the middle of the yard. They usually travel together and keep watch for each other, but this one took one too many risks.
We try to change up the places of our feeders regularly. Keeps the birds on their toes.
I once saw a Eurasian sparrowhawk catch one of our great spotted woodpeckers mid-flight. Incredible and superfast but still sad. Later I found the woodpecker on the other side of our house. Don’t know if the sparrowhawk got distracted or its prey was too big to carry.
I was worried it was one of my Woodpeckers at first. I have fewer of them. I’m still not totally sure who it was, as all that was left was most white belly fluff. I looked around his for flight feathers, but didn’t see any.
It can help itself to all those dang starlings that keep cleaning out all my premium bird food! 😞
I don’t mind starlings. They’re quite social. But blue tits on the other hand are bullies. Well, I feed them and the squirrels and some mice will also take their share. At least schlepping 20/25kg bags of bird food are a nice workout.
I share peanuts with the squirrels, and they also munch on what haha from the feeder.
I just have a small patio where my feeders are, and I used to stock them with sunflower seeds, but it made such a mess for me to clean up all the time from the husks. I switched to the upscale “no mess” blend, and the birds love it and the only waste in left with is from the birds themselves.
It costs too much to get gulped down by the starlings! I wouldn’t mind if they took some, but they can clean out both feeders in a day and they chase off the other birds by muscling them off the feeder.
Anyone can eat there, but they have to share!
