About mid-afternoon, the Girl began pestering to go out. She does that, usually beginning about 1430 hours. I decided I needed a break from sorting things and finding where I want to stow them. So, we drove up to the old State School to walk and play for a few minutes.
She loves to check all the squirrel holes. The area is infested with California ground squirrels, but they are cagey and don’t let her get close. Still, she’s a high-drive dog and wants to chase. So she can’t help but check all the holes and chase one if it presents a target.
After we made the circuit, I noticed a feather float by. A few seconds later, I saw another… and another.
“Something is shedding,” I thought, looking around. It took me only a few seconds to spot a hawk picking its kill on top of a power pole. Then I recalled that I carry a compact camera in my vest pocket.
The Girl poked around while I tried to find a good angle to make a few captures. I made ten or twelve images and like this one quite a lot. The hawk is either a Sharp-shinned Hawk or a Cooper’s Hawk. The two are difficult to distinguish and I am no expert. All I know is that it was fun to watch the bird feed.
The trip would have been worthwhile anyway. The Girl and I got outside and we got to play. That’s good enough. The interaction with the hawk was special.