Dracula The Tree and the Hawk fight
my friend ava at the tree
Me and my friends were walking out of my dorm building when we saw a beautiful red-tailed hawk perched up on this tree here in the photo. We sat down under it and watched the hawk fly around. A squirrel then was running up the same tree the hawk was perched on and when the hawk saw the squirrel it went into hunting mode. All of a sudden, the hawk swoops down at lightning speed and chases after the squirrel. The squirrel runs as fast as it can to the next tree and waits at the top of the tree thinking it had out run the hawk. Then the hawk came flying right at it and almost snatched the squirrel up. At the end of the fight the squirrel hid inside a metal box right by this tree in the photo and the hawk swopped down and was stomping its feet on top of the box to try and scare the squirrel into coming out. The squirrel did not fall for the trick and stayed in the box. This was one of craziest coolest experiences I have ever seen in my whole life. Birds are one of my favorites things and to see this in action was a little terrifying but also accelerating.
Wow, that's such a great moment to get to witness! Thanks for sharing this story.
ReplyDeleteFor what it's worth -- i'm told that hawks very rarely attack squirrels. Squirrels are incredibly quick and respond to an attack by going after the hawk's foot, and the squirrel's teeth are sharp enough to sever a tendon. Losing a tendon in a foot can easily kill a hawk. You can see what that looks like in action here (and the comments also testify to the lack of hawk attacks on squirrels): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-6e7nuEoy8
Considering this time of year, my guess is that the hawk you saw was either hungry due to nesting, or was possibly a year old.
* clarification -- possibly a year old hawk who was an inexperienced hunter
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