THE BUNNY AND THE HAWK
by Dick Alley
I was driving through Longshore this morning and just past the 2nd Tee right next to the road was a beautiful hawk. By the time I could pull over and grab the camera, it flew away, but it reminded me of another hawk encounter a few years back.
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| Birds of Prey |
Prior to moving back to Westport, we lived in upstate Connecticut for 20 years. A nice little house on a busy street with a small but beautiful fenced-in back yard. Our favorite room in the house was our three-season porch at the rear of the house which allowed us to enjoy my bride's well-kept shrubs and flora, our busy bird feeders and more.
We had lots of birds, too many squirrels, an occasional skunk sneaking over from under the fence and every year, a bunny rabbit or two that happily fed on our back-yard grass.
One afternoon, I spotted a hawk on a tree branch next to the house. Our friendly little bunny was busily eating the grass. Before I could even yell, the handsome and horrible bird suddenly swooped down, picked up the bunny and flew to a corner of the yard, where it rapidly dispatched the poor little guy. I grabbed my camera and headed for the back yard. Obviously, by now there was nothing I could do for the bunny, but as I approached, the big bird was obviously unconcerned even though I was only about 20 feet away.
The critter not only ignored me but defiantly stared me down, and continued to feed, even as I approached within a few feet, snapping pictures all the time. I took about 20 photo's before the hawk picked up what was left of the little bunny, spread it's wings and made a beeline for me as it took off. I ducked. as it gained altitude and soared over my neighbor's house, still carrying the bunny.
I was too busy ducking at that time to catch it in flight with my camera, but that day when the lessons of life and death in the wild came to my back yard, will forever remain in my memory and on my computer.
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