Red-tailed Hawk eats Gray Squirrel!

Bright-eyed and bushy tailed, the Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) is abundant throughout much of Ohio - certainly in central Ohio, where I made this shot. They are often amusing this time of year, as it's mating season. Soon after winter solstice, the lust to procreate and make more of their kind sets in. Amorous males set to chasing females, and this can put them at risk as their intense focus may cause them to lose track of their surroundings. Just as we notice these wild pursuits, sometimes involving several males hot on the furry heels of a female, so do others. Including formidable predators. I wonder if this is how the protagonist of this post picked off his victim, which apparently let down its guard in some way. But I did not see the actual kill, only the aftermath, of which a brief photo essay follows.

Last Wednesday, January 11, I was traipsing through Green Lawn Cemetery in Columbus, Ohio, on the heels of a Merlin (Falco columbarius). I was with a photographer friend, and we had just finished a nice session with a cooperative Merlin on a dead snag. After it finally flew, we set out on foot to relocate it or another we had seen.

I noticed a slight movement within a bushy part of a maple and Voila! There was an adult Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis). We quickly saw it had dispatched and was eating a victim. I made this shot soon after the discovery. While the big raptor is glaring our way, it paid nearly no mind to us. We were respectful of its space, and quiet (quietness seems to be becoming a rare commodity where birders and/or photographers gather).

The bird had bagged a Gray Squirrel and was engaged in preparing and eating its meal. From the looks of things, the raptor had been at its work for a while. Much of the mammal had been defurred already, but in this photo the head is mostly intact. In all, we were able to observe the hawk eating its meal for about a half-hour. At that point, I managed to fill my 128-gigabyte memory card. That's not hard when shooting in burst mode with a 45-megapixel camera and shooting video as well. I would have gone back to the vehicle for another card, but by then the rain was setting in, and it was time to leave.

The red-tail with fresh squirrel meat. It came from the one of the rear legs, the remnants of which can be seen sticking up in front of the bird's left leg.

The raptor starts in on the other hind leg. The de-meated other leg sticks up next to it. The back legs must be a delicacy as they are one of the first things this bird dined upon.

At one point, the hawk went on point and was obviously watching something in the distance. I was sure it was another raptor but try as I might, I could not locate the object of its interest. This red-tail was in fairly thick cover in the lower boughs of a large maple and wasn't very conspicuous from most angles. Therefore, I would think it would have been difficult for it to have a good sightline to distant points. But raptors are nearly magical in their situational awareness and with vision far keener than any human, they don't miss much.

On the way out of the cemetery - which is 160 acres, 2nd largest cemetery in Ohio - I spotted another Red-tailed Hawk, perched in a tree far removed from the squirrel-eater. I'd bet it was this bird flying around that "our" hawk spotted. Another red-tail certainly would have put him on point and monopolized its attention.

As always, click the photo to enlarge :-)

Eventually the hawk got to the head and commenced eating the nose - another delicacy? In this image it has deftly grasped the squirrel's eyelid. Raptors deal with prey like this with surgical precision, using the bill like a scalpel and manipulating and repositioning the prey with those large powerful feet and talons. They are more efficient than most people would be with fork and knife.

If nothing interfered, I'm sure the bird left little but fur and bones. Almost nothing goes to waste. My only regret - and it isn't worth regretting as there is nothing one can do - is that the day was a typical gray leaden Ohio winter day. Light was abysmal as it is so often around here in winter, and it only deteriorated as heavy cold rains moved in. How these scenes would have popped in golden morning sunlight! Ah well, I count myself lucky to have had a ringside seat to a dining Red-tailed Hawk. He was still there feeding away when we departed.

Here's a brief video of the red-tailed feeding. I was hoping that the snaps and cracks of tendons and muscles separating would come through, but the camera didn't seem to pick those up. I could hear it, though, and the sound effects added interest to the experience.

Hawk attempts to punk bigger hawk

Gorgeous fall foliage along the long entrance drive to Triangle Lake Bog State Nature Preserve, Portage County, Ohio.

Last Saturday evening, I was the invited speaker for the The Native Plant Society of Northeastern Ohio's annual soiree, which was held at the Pine Lake Trout Club near Chagrin Falls. That was a great time and I appreciate the group's hospitality.

Not one to miss an opportunity, I headed up that way a bit early, and arrived at the aforementioned preserve near Ravenna well before the sun rose.

A 1/2 mile or so of planking makes access to the bog easy. And I can tell you, were it not for this boardwalk, one would truly be bog-stomping. The place is essentially a massive sponge, and the possibility of stepping through the mat and into water much deeper than expected would be an ever-present risk.

Years ago, Greg Schneider and I waded all through this place, seeking a tiny aquatic carnivorous plant known as Two-scaped Bladderwort, Utricularia geminiscapa. It had never been recorded in Ohio, but we figured it might occur at this place. And we found it, growing in small pools on sections of the bog mat that bounced like a trampoline. It was truly tough going, and it's probably a minor miracle that neither of us fell through the mat, to be unearthed centuries later as "bog mummies".

Capturing the beauty of the bog at first light was my primary mission. To step into this place is to be transported hundreds of miles to the north, where glacial kettle lake bogs are still common. They once were in northeastern Ohio, too, but most have long succumbed to the forces of vegetative succession.

A largely undisturbed oasis like Triangle Lake is full of interesting flora and fauna. I wasn't out of my car in the parking lot before I heard the mellow chuck-chuck notes of Hermit Thrushes. Kinglets of both species worked the shrubbery, and Yellow-rumped Warblers were everywhere. Cedar Waxing flocks darted about and woodpeckers of six species made themselves known. At one point, a Northern Flicker dropped into a berry-laden Poison Sumac treelet eight feet from my position, and began scarfing down fruit while eyeing me with some suspicion.

Not long after daybreak, one of the local Red-tailed Hawks took to the air, and it was in sight as much as not for the remainder of my time, tracing lazy circles overhead. After the golden light of dawn had passed, I returned to the car and got my telephoto lens, found a semi-hidden vantage point and began to work the birds.

Early on, I had noticed a Sharp-shinned Hawk that rose on the thermals and would reappear from time to time. Judging by its behavior, I figured it, like the red-tail, was the product of local breeders. Well, as luck would have it, I was drawing a photographic bead on the red-tailed when suddenly the "sharpie" came in towards the larger hawk at speed.

If you're not wise to the ways of Sharp-shinned Hawks, they are feathered bundles of testosterone - one of the most aggressive birds there is. They love to attack and strafe larger birds, especially other raptors. The sharpie in these photos is a young female, and she's about one-third larger than a male would be, the latter being not much larger than a Blue Jay. Nonetheless, she is dwarfed by the red-tail, which outmasses her by 5-6 times.

The little hawk made a few half-hearted strafes of the larger bird, but wasn't as persistently aggressive as I've seen them be. I figured that if both were the spawn of local breeders, they were pretty used to each other by now. This is probably the two hundredth play-fight the poor red-tail has probably had to endure from the crazy little raptor. You can almost see it rolling its eyes and thinking "great! this little jerk again!"

After a few passes, the sharpie angled off to wreak havoc elsewhere. But I certainly appreciated the show.

A "white" hawk

Photo: Kathy Mock

One can only imagine Kathy Mock's surprise when she glanced out the window of her Akron home, and saw a snow-white raptor winging by. In this winter/spring especially, thoughts of Snowy Owl would come right to mind.

Photo: Kathy Mock

Kathy was laboring at the computer when she caught a glimpse of this thing cruising by about two blocks away. She didn't tarry, rushing to grab optics and camera, and took off outside to track the ivory bird down. That she did, and obtained these distant but nice images.

Snow White turns out to be a gorgeous, highly leucistic Red-tailed Hawk. Vestiges of red tail feathers can be seen bleeding through, as can some dark pigment under the wings. This bird would make even a nonbirder whirl around and do a double-take.

Leucism is a pigment anomaly that causes normally dark pigments to become washed out and pale. I've written about this condition in more detail in other posts, such as HERE, and HERE.

Thanks to Kathy for sharing her interesting find!