Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Wildlife Adventures

Along with thousands around the globe, I’ve been watching that red-tailed hawk’s nest high up on a light tower on the Cornell campus, since the eggs were laid in March.  Some foolish starlings picked a hole in that dark support on the left, six inches up from the hawks, for their nest.  It’s been fun watching the dark starlings dart in and out, feeding their chicks,  ignoring the danger. But it wasn’t fun a few days ago, when the youngest hawklet was alone in the nest after its siblings had taken their first flights, and the parent starling flew in with lunch in its beak.
Young hawk on the right, chick peeking out lower right of the dark support.  Parent starling yelling. To see what happens, click below.

(thanks, Connie)
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3 comments:

  1. best example of Darwinism I've ever seen!

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  2. "Nature, red in tooth and claw..." (Alfred Lord T.)

    And I saw and heard one of our neighborhood pair of kestrels carrying off a starling (or some small noisy bird) a few days ago. I'm just glad the kestrels are still around, after the crow attack on their nest back in the spring.

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  3. Those starlings were just asking for this all along...not the brightest place for them to nest!

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