A Good Day for Preying...

Some times, it's a blast to be hiking alone in the chilly fall mornings.  

High above one of the trails, I spotted a Turkey Vulture nestled in the bare branches of the trees.  

Turkey Vulture

Turkey Vulture

 As the trail approached the dry lake bed, hawks and vultures circled over head...

I think this is a Red-Tailed Hawk, but the early morning sun makes it hard to tell.

 A pair of Red-tailed Hawks danced together on the air currents rising from the warming surface. Their show was spectacular because they were dancing just above me!

 Even Winston found it to be a wonderful morning to catch one of his favorite treats...a mole!

Believe it or not...he was on his leash!

Birds of Prey are fascinating to watch, but even more fascinating to hunt along side.

Another life time ago I dated a guy who had a Red-Tailed Hawk as a pet.  On the weekends we'd take his hawk out hunting.  I can't recall all the details, like why the bird actually came back to him when he called versus just flying off...certainly birds in the wild don't hang around with their dinners when I walk near them.  I do recall being bundled up, since it was January, the bird being released to circle overhead, or perch in the top of a nearby tree, us walking around an old field with sticks and beating the grass, hoping to scare up a rabbit.  If you were lucky enough to be the one who scared up the rabbit, you gave a call/cry out loud and if the bird wasn't all ready watching the area where you were, it would quickly tune in, locate it's prey and dive bomb it's dinner.  My friend would quickly come over, give the bird a small piece of the rabbit and put the rest away in a bag, to be served later on in the week.  The bird would be released back up to it's vantage point and the process would start again.

Pretty cool, but...I think I prefer my hunter who doesn't look at me like a possible dinner choice!  :)