This is not our picture since we can't photograph our 3rd time visitor every time he/she comes by. But we did get him/her the first time.
But a story goes along with it... Our coon hound -golden retriever mix was fond of chasing pigeons, because they are so clustered under the bird feeders I guess she thought she had a chance? What we thought was a close call was probably 3 feet away, but it was funny to watch. Especially as large as Max was... she couldn't exactly sneak up on much of anything. One day Dennis was at work and after letting the dogs in I had to go into the garage but something caught my eye... yes, it was a pigeon, or what was left of it. I called Dennis and said "I am not letting Max out again until you get home and clean up her mess!!!" Ewwww. I found it strange that both dogs came in without a fight or coaxing, but who knows what goes through an animals' mind ? Being on the telephone with Dennis, I went back to the window to describe the scene... low and behold - there is the hawk upon it's kill. WOW. We had seen them at Gregory Park - Lincoln Park Community Center two years ago during the fall - lack of leaves made that possible. Just never expected them in our backyard.
Our Pictures.... a couple graphic ones just to warn you. This is what I got after I thought our dog had killed one.
Our second sighting was a bit curious? We watch the critters on a daily basis when we are at our kitchen table and the feeders are full and we throw peanuts out. Recently we have had 2 male cardinals along with one female. But at the time I am referring to? The squirrels were active as usual, chasing each other and fighting for walnuts (a rare treat!). When we looked out and on the chain link fence of our neighbors' to the right of us... sat a Hawk --- eighteen inches away from a squirrel !! Are you serious??? That's what we were thinking!!! And the hawk flew away, the squirrel went about his business of burying nuts. That was towards the end of summer...
...fast forward to now. I am in the computer room paying bills or working on a blog (?) when I hear my husband say, "WHAT THE F*** IS THAT?" Repeated 2 or 3 times then an "OH MY GOD-OH MY GOD" Now he can be theatrical about any number of things I find trivial, so I didn't jump up and run to the kitchen. (He had been coming up from the basement.) He came dashing in ... "Never believe what I just witnessed!?" Through the kitchen window, he saw 'something' then he realised what it was... the Hawk taking down another pigeon in our driveway! Dennis thinks he startled it (Really?) and it took it's meal elsewhere. Which is just fine by me.
Survival of the fittest, though I doubt a pigeon could win against a hawk. I just hope he/she never comes to take our all white one. Dennis has been looking for ways to keep the pigeons away - plastic owl decoy (Max's favorite toy), wiring up the feeders so their fat butts can't fit on them, and of course, banging on the window. But I think he may have met his partner in crime. And the cats can never go outside again!
"EMBRACE THE GREY"
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