I’m working from home today after yesterday’s tricky flight back. As I was reading my email, I saw a startling flutter of feathers out of the corner of my eye. A young female cardinal had come to visit our birdfeeder. In a flash, though, it disappeared into the claws of a swooping hawk! In an instant both were gone, leaving my jaw gaping at the speed of the attack.
Earlier this summer our feeder was swarming with finches and cardinals. Lately, though, they’ve been scarce. Has the hawk scared them off? I wonder how long it’s been lurking, waiting to scoop up an unsuspecting snack. I also wonder if I could somehow convince it to go after the pesky squirrels.
Today is trash day so I went out the back door to fetch the garbage can. As I walked back inside, I noticed my cat peeking out of the still-open door. She would have made for a tasty feast for the hawk had she been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I have to decide now if its still so cool to have hawks in the neighborhood.
Hawks have to eat, too. And I think an adult house cat would be too big for a hawk’s menu (unless it’s a very small cat or a really big hawk). It’s more likely that the hawks flying overhead are freaking out the cat. The hawks could also be annoyed by the cats competing with them for food (or scaring away their dinner).
Yeah, I know hawks have to eat. I’m not too concerned about it. That’s the nature of nature. Even so, I’ll miss my songbirds if the hawk chases them all away.
My cat is a house cat and not at all accustomed to being outside. She’s also huge, 12+ pounds, and armed with full claws and a feisty attitude. But she doesn’t know much about hawks.
I think I’ve seen the same hawk (or at least the same kind). It comes right into the backyard although I’ve never seen it eat a bird. I, too, got nervous that it might try to pick up my fat kitty cat. I know it’s probably irrational, but stranger things have happened!