Crow's Tears

Posted by Ellie
 

3 of 5 #naturephotochallenge

Cold, long winters are very hard on wildlife and everything does its best to survive. I was terribly saddened the other day to come home and find some feathers from our female cardinal lying in the snow. I just couldn't believe it! We have hundreds of blue jays, lots of mourning doves, so many other birds, but only 1 pair of cardinals. With that abundance of choice, why did whatever it was have to choose my female cardinal to eat? I came to terms with it by remembering that fact. It's hard for everything wild. They survive as they can.

In the woods at the top of our garden where I had seen owls and other large birds, I found a scene of destruction the other day. Clearly a crow had met the same fate as my little cardinal. This feather lay set apart on the snow with – unlikely – frozen drops of water. Like tears. For all the creatures that have suffered this winter.

Today Joni was staring fixedly at a branch just outside our house. I followed her gaze and there was a hawk watching my bird feeders. I felt conflicting emotions – excitement because I love to see large birds of prey, but also dismay at the thought of the reality of the prey it was hoping to grab, my lovely little birds on the feeder.

As I reached to get my camera to see if I could photograph it, a crow flew at the hawk to attack it. That smaller bird chased the hawk away from our property and away from the bird feeders. Sometimes you're the windscreen, as the song says, sometimes you're the bug. The hawk lost that one.

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I have been challenged by my friend +Tom Crews​​​ to participate in a 5-day Nature Challenge. I have been asked to post one nature photo each day for 5 days – in my case not consecutive. I am asked to name a new challenger on each of my 5 days. Today I am challenging my friend +William McLean​ to join me in this. Just post one nature photo a day for 5 days. Tag me in it, use the hash tag #naturephotochallenge and nominate someone else on each of the days. No pressure, Bill, but I hope you feel like doing it.

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35 Responses

  16. I once saw/heard a hawk attack a smaller bird RIGHT OUTSIDE MY WORK WINDOW. I was like, "Hey, go do nature somewhere else!!! I don't want to see that!!" I know the feeling all too well.

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  18. I doubt it was the hawk I saw today. But the other day I saw a large, heavy looking bird with a lot of white take off from the ground at the top of our garden. No idea what it was, but seemed larger than that hawk. +Johnny Powers​

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  19. +Johnny Powers I agree with you, but it could also have been an owl as we have barred and other owls. Or a hawk, especially when it is starving! It was, I would say, definitely a bird as it appeared to have been plucked, as I have seen birds do.

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  22. If the hawk you saw ate that crow instead of the smaller birds at your feeder, that was a hard and well earned meal. Most hawks and owls will always choose prey smaller and meeker than a crow.

    Reply

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