Chickadee Eating Seed, Hawk Eating Squirrel

What but the wolf’s tooth whittled so fine
The fleet limbs of the antelope?
What but fear winged the birds, and hunger
Jewelled with such eyes the great goshawk’s head?
Violence has been the sire of all the world’s values.

from The Bloody Sire, by Robinson Jeffers

Funny how I drove clear across the island, went for walks in two separate places, and took my favorite photo of the day right out the kitchen window just after getting back home.

This was one of those events in nature when you're amazed at first, and watch in fascination, but gradually can't sustain the interest, and eventually even get bored with it, and awhile later check back and it's still happening, until finally it ends and you don't really notice. It took this hawk hours to tear that poor beast apart and gobble it down until there was nothing left. Even the chickadees and nuthatches eventually came back and started feeding again like there was nothing to see. 

I've posted an extra from one of my walks just because. Unfortunately the photo doesn't really capture the herd of deer moving through the long grass, or the water trickling under the ice, or the barred owl hooting in the distance. It was a very nice moment, just standing out in the meadow and taking it in for a while.