Sitting on the porch, drinking my coffee, minding my own bidness when Josie looks out the window and says "What is that?"

"A capybara?" I guessed.

"What kind of a bird is that?" she pointed.  I looked.  There, perched on the fence near the bird feeder was an enormous hawk.

You see them around here.  Mostly over the high way outside of town, wheeling and swooping over the fields.

You don't see them hovering around back yard bird feeders smack in the middle of town.

Yet there he was, looking all predatory and cool.  I'm guessing he was about eighteen inches tall.  Then he flew up into the air but instead of leaving, he jumped down into the leaves beneath our ash tree and came up with a little brown bird in his talons.  He perched on our neighbors back fence and proceeded to eat the poor thing.

For about fifteen minutes he just sat there, nonchalantly plucking feathers and tearing chunks off the tiny little body.

"What a pig." Josie said, disgusted.

In the trees five feet away from the hawk lives a family of cardinals.  I'm sure they were in there, still and silent and thinking "dam! why are we so RED???"

There was very other bird activity in the back yard.

 

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