I considered calling this post “Death from Above,” which is just as accurate. This morning I was at the computer before dawn. When it was still quite dark out, I could see some birds and rabbits at the quail block. Then, suddenly, a huge shape dropped from the sky—the hawk! It grabbed one of the birds and had a fierce struggle with it against the chain-link fence, while everyone else scattered. It was too dark to see much of what was going on, or what sort of bird it was, but from the size it had to be a quail or dove. Once the bird was quiet, the hawk continued to dismember it on the ground in the corner of the pond area. I later looked at the feathers, and saw no ruddy or black ones, so I suspect it was a dove.
An hour or so later, when it was light, the hawk returned (or a different one), scattering all the birds and rabbits, and sat on the fence looking around. Except one rabbit had not gotten away in time. It just sat where it was, completely motionless except for its twitching nose. Something spooked the rabbit and it ran off, followed by the hawk. But the rabbit evidently escaped, because the hawk soon returned to the fence, where I took pictures of it. I continue to believe it is a young Cooper’s Hawk.
They seem both regal and evil somehow. Maybe that's not so strange a combination. Fits Life in the Raw of course. It is just that we actually get to see it when they wreak havoc. And it is hard to erase from memory once you see it. The hawk eating a pigeon on West End Avenue is still embedded in my mind's eye.
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