Leave Me Alone

In an earlier post called The Woods, I mentioned that the crows were inspecting the woods. After a brief break inside, I went back outside yesterday and heard a group of crows cawing. I knew what it was. In a moment, a large bird took off from the woods and landed in another section of the woods with the crows following it. It was the adult red-tailed hawk below.

After a little more harassment by the crows, the red-tail took off again. Here it is in all its beauty.

Within seconds, its entourage of crows was upon it.

Six crows chased the hawk. Above, one leads a charge.

In the image above, two crows mob the hawk. One has just beaked the hawk's left wing. Shortly after this image, the 6 crows became more agressive. By now, my camera memory was filled. As the crows had the hawk surrounded, a second red-tail appeared from above. The crows saw the second hawk, considered it, and flew in the other direction. After the crows left, a third red-tail arrived. By then, the crows were out of sight.

(Originally posted on November 23, 2009)
 
Red-tailed Hawk   Amreican Crow