Backyard Violence Redux

This time it was a chipmunk.

The hawk came back! Or, a different hawk came around. Whichever it was, I was sitting at my desk eating some lunch (a little Purdue chicken patty and a handful of frozen French fries, all heated up in the air fryer) and I heard another bang outside of my window. I looked out and there was the/a Red Tail Hawk. It was holding what was left of a chipmunk. I couldn’t see it clearly through the dirty window screen and with my reading glasses on, but I could see it well enough to notice that a big strip of the little rodent had been removed. Ouch town, population Alvin/Simon/Theodore. There will be no hoola hoop for xmas this year. Yikes!

The hawk sat on the grass in front of my window for just a second or two and then flew off. See you later, bro.

Such violence. Such brutality on display. Hawks are freakin’ awesome!

Backyard Violence

I just saw some backyard wild kingdom violence. Well… it was mostly over by the time I looked outside, but I saw a little of the aftermath.

I have the window open in my home office room. I heard a bang outside followed by lots of angry bird noise. I looked outside and…

…right in front of my window was a hawk standing on the ground eating a fresh kill. I think the fresh kill was a sparrow. It was tough to say. I thought maybe a chipmunk at first but it was definitely a small bird. I reached for my phone to take a picture but the hawk and it’s lunch flew away into the woods.

I guess we’ll have to settle for a cat photo as my photo a day shot.

This was taken before the murder. Robin had left by the time the horror went down.

Top of the Mountain, Mom!

I took this picture this morning. Lily is on top of the mountain.

Now for an unrelated story that involves both cats. I have the windows open next to my desk. The cats have been hanging out, sitting on the window sill, enjoying the breeze and the warm-ish Spring air, and stalking the birds and the critters hanging out by the back yard bird feeders.

They were sitting there, minding their own business, and I was sitting at my desk working and minding my own business when BAM! Both cats ABSOLUTELY FREAKED OUT and ran out of the room as fast as their tiny, furry, little legs would carry them. What the hell, thought me?

I looked out the window and there were no creatures by the bird feeders. What there was though, and I only saw it for a split second before it disappeared into the woods behind our back yard, was the back of a red tail hawk. I think the hawk saw our bird feeder as a fast food take out joint and stopped in for a snack. I couldn’t tell if it had anything in its talons in the instant that I saw it, but if it had something I hope it was a squirrel and not a bird. The squirrels try to steal the bird food from the birds and for that they have earned my hatred. Jerks.

I fully understand why the cats went nuts. If I were a little furry guy I would have flipped my lid at the site of a hawk hunting for lunch too. Yikes, babie. Yikes.

Lazy Hawk

I saw a hawk in the backyard. I was looking out the window (I should have looked at your face instead… sorry… Rush lyrics just took over my brain for a second… I’m okay now) and woosh it flew out of the woods onto a tree on the edge of our yard. It seemed a little small. I wonder if it was the bird equivalent of a teenager? Anyway. I also saw a squirrel in the backyard. I was hoping… hoping… hoping… to see that hawk act out a little bird revenge on the bastard who keeps stealing all of the seed out of the feeders.

But alas, no. The hawk was a lazy asshole and the squirrel lives to steal bird seed another day.

Back Yard Wild Kingdom Moment

I am working from home today. When lunch time came I decided I’d cook the last hamburger out on the grill. A little cookout for one, if you will.

In one hand I had a plate with the burger on it along with a couple of grill utensils. In the other I had a little tray table I use to place all my stuff on while I grill like a grilling demon wannabe.

I put the tray table down while I opened the garage’s back door. Immediately upon opening the door a dragon fly blew past. Good! I’ve been hoping to see those little buggers. Dragon flies eat mosquitoes and we sure could handle a drastic reduction in the back yard mosquito population. Welcome back, dragon fly!

As I took my first step toward the open door I saw something even better. Probably only 20-30 yards away, flying slowly, almost casually, across the far end of the yard was a great big honkin’ red tail hawk. Right there, as large as life (literally). It landed on a low branch of a tree near the edge of the woods. It sat there for a second, just long enough for me to get a good look and for him to notice there was a great big two legged sucker walking out of the building. It took off into the woods and I quickly lost sight of it.

As I grilled up my lunch, I kept an eye on the trees and on the sky. I saw a big butterfly, and a bluejay, but that was it. I told myself that if the hawk came back into the yard I was going to give it my burger.

Maybe if I feed it, it will start killing off the damn squirrels that eat all of my bird food.

Hawk

I over slept a little this morning. When I did wake up I wanted to get out of bed, but Patches the kitty was lying down next to me and I just couldn’t disturb her.

When I eventually did sit up she was very adamant about me petting her, so I just sat there and spent some quality time with her.

That was when I just happened to look out the window. I just happened to see one of our friendly neighborhood hawks glide casually across the back yard. I’d say it was 8-10 feet high and coasting along slowly. I stood up to get a better look (Patches was pissed) but I couldn’t see where it went.

Living in wild kingdom rules!