Peas, rabbits, and the red-tailed hawk.
There’s a red tailed hawk that lives in my backyard. It’s a big bastard, with a five foot plus wingspan- At least I think it’s a redtail, though the underside of the wingtips are blacker than I remember.
Maybe it’s just because it’s so close when I see it. It takes off from a tree about ten feet off the ground, and wheels into the sky. It’s very impressive.
What’s more impressive is it’s respect for my peas. I planted them some time ago, and they started to come up just a few days back. And of course, peas being peas, the prerequisite rabbits showed up about eleven minutes later.
mr Hawk, disgusted by this theivery, swooped down and grabbed Mr Rabbit, and took him out to dinner. Damned hard to be quick enough to get pictures, but if I catch him feeding again, I will try to get a picture.
We also have a pair of horned owls, close at hand. So damned pretty, they are, and huge. The pair here are easily five footers. The call is haunting and pleasant.
Saturday evening, the rain pattering out my window, laying in bed still in a painkiller haze, listening to the owls hoot outside, ogwife snuggled up next to me, I never felt better in my life, man and boy.
Then, apparently, I managed to contract a case of the galloping trots from my hospital stay (or from the doctor’s assistant). Blood tests today ruled out anemia or any other issues, but it don’t make it any more fun. Anyway, I’m just glad I’m on the mend. The knee feels two thousand percent better. haven’t even had to take an aspirin for three days.
Wow! A hawk and a pair of owls nearby – Wonderful!
I like to tramp the local wildlife refuge with my dog during the late pheasant season. We will often rest under a cottonwood and watch the Drama In Real Life unfold before us as the wildlife momentarily forgets our passing and comes back out to play. Birds galore including predators and waterfowl interacting with the varmints can be pretty entertaining.
Hasenpfeffer!
A creek ran through the neighborhood I used to live in a year ago. The trees around it were full of hawks — one day I got to watch four of them have some kind of sky fight above the local Walmart — and there were otters in the creek and also raccoons galore. Oh, and one day I was walking home (I lived a walk away from work — sigh!) and I heard this eery whistling. I looked up, and barely saw this big gray owl sitting on a tree branch glaring at me.
The apartment I now live in is next to the expressway, so there isn’t as much wildlife, though I still hear plenty of hawks and of course there are squirrels. And Orlando and environs are riddled with little lakes, so there is no escaping the creatures of nature. Next week I’ll be moving to another apartment, this one next to the railroad track. I love the sound of trains. But there are a lot of trees there, so maybe I’ll also hear hawks and such. (Many of our local parks are next to the tracks, and they are full of animals and birds.)
My peas got pretty well flattened last Thursday night be a severe thunderstorm – pea-sized hail drifting up like snow. They’re coming back nicely, though.
Interestingly, I haven’t seen any rabbits for years out at Dad’s – understandable when he and his 4 dogs were there, but I’m not sure why they haven’t come back.
The hound is 12 now and won’t chase anything short of a steak right in front of his nose. The redtails left when the housing development went up. I am over run with rabbits and squirrels, voles and mice. The old ground hog, who jumped right onto the hound when he treed him, bit the hound till he ran off tail between legs, finally got run over, thank god. The squirrels carefully dug up and ate every one of my goddamn peas. Well, there are four little ones left. But it’s not like I am going to starve or anything. Guess I will have to put down a barrier when I plant the corn.
Hawks have been much in evidence around here. I even got to see one nail a squirrel on the IUSB campus a few months ago. It happened about 20 feet in front of me just out side one of the buildings.
This is a great blog! Hope you don’t mind, I linked you at mine.
We have Great horned owls nesting up the creek. Lots of jackrabbits the last few years as these coyote and fox almost all died off from mange and parvo. But they are coming back too.So everyone is living off the jackrabbits. Kind of like taxpayers, huh?
Thanks, Dennis. Welcome to the blogroll.
Do you guys ever pick through the owl pellets? I have found some cool little bones and, occasionally, a complete skull from some little varmint.
Slash, yeah! I used to do that in high school, sometimes you’d find some amazing things- like frog and lizard skeletons!