Red-tailed Hawk vs. Eastern Gray Squirrel

You know who won that battle...This is not what I had planned to blip when I went to the Norfolk Botanical Garden today. Butterflies, flowers, dragonflies perhaps...And then I saw the tree frogs posing and was sure that was it. As I was leaving the gardens I decided to pull into the parking lot near they entrance. I wasn't even sure I was going to park.

Then I saw two photographers with kajillion mm lenses mounted on tripods clicking away. Hmmm. Might be worth seeing what they see, I thought. I parked, grabbed my camera and quietly made my way to them. I could see a large bird from the car but could not tell what it was...(osprey? eagle?). Then I saw the red tail....and then I saw it hopping and jumping on its prey.

The food chain in action...not pretty but amazing to watch. This hawk had no intention of flying away with its prey. It kept the squirrel firmly in one claw and did change its position several times. The most memorable moment was when another clueless oblivious squirrel ran directly in front of the hawk. He looked. He stared. He then went back to the squirrel in its talon. That was the other thing. He never let go. He kept that squirrel firmly in one talon even when hopping around and changing position.

Three people with cameras maybe 40-50 feet away did not matter to him.

This may not be the best of my pictures but does show the hawk's face, it's tail, it's talon and the unfortunate squirrel.

This is the link to my flickr photos. After you get through the dozen hawk images you will see my pretty nature pictures taken today...including a great crested flycatcher and treefrogs!