What happened?

Preening Feathers

Watching the Mockingbird

That was a close one.

Are you talking to me?

Attack og the Mockingbird!

Thump! Anne and I hear coming from our Florida room. “What was that?” I ask Anne. I was thinking one of our pet prairie dogs climbed to the top of the cage, then it dropped down to the floor. “I think it was a bird crashing into a window,” Anne tells me. A short time later Anne gets up to check on the prairie dogs and calls me; “Gary, come quick and grab your camera!” I join her in the Florida room and to my surprise, a red-tailed hawk was sitting on the backyard fence. It may have been shaking off cobwebs after it saw prairie dog dinner and attempted to grab them only to collide with the window.

A mockingbird was very upset with the hawk’s presence and squawked at it and dove at it over and over. Though this raptor remained on the fence it did peer over its shoulder and kept a watchful eye on the pestering mockingbird. This was the same bird I saw eating a squirrel a few weeks ago and probably the same bird that reportedly grabbed a snake to eat. (I missed that photo opportunity!)

Although the prairie dogs seemed oblivious to the hawk, we moved their cage away from the window to be sure the hawk didn’t break its neck trying to snatch one of them. The red-tail hung around for a bit, then flew off into the twilight of the evening sky.