My sighting today was wild. Right out of a nature documentary. In the weeds to my right I saw something brownish moving. I thought maybe it was a coyote or fox. Then big wings adjusted themselves, forming a tent-like shape. A large Red-Tailed Hawk was on top of something, covering it.
(When the full moon is overhead, it looks small and when it’s on the horizon it looks huge. This is a famous optical illusion. The same thing applies to hawks. On the ground, the bird was massive; looking way bigger than it does when circling above.)
As I watched, its wide wings opened, extended, and scooped air under them, raising the heavy bird up and out of there, pure muscle and big-feather power. A small animal dangled from the hawk’s beak, moving, still alive. I think it was a field mouse. It had a long thin tail.
The hawk flew to a tree. I figured that within the cover of branches, the bird would tear its prey into quickly swallowed chunks. Then it would sit and digest. Or maybe it would resume the hunt. The hawk was big and the mouse was small.
An interesting sighting. But it didn’t happen in the woods or open prairie. It happened in the roadside foliage next to my car as I waited for a red light near stores, traffic and lots of concrete. That was the really wild thing about it.
Looking for name to go with the bird both my parents and I have seen. The bird is same size as adult bluejay (9″). Main color is stunning bronze, with thin black crest. Beak is thin and long (est. 1/2″ – 3/4″). Feet similar to blue jay, wings darker brown. Neck is slimmer than blue jay, feathers are smooth like silk in appearance (similar to cedar wing coating). I’ve noticed the bird near pond edges, my parents have seen in woods. We can’t find photo of bird or ID bird. Driving us all nuts…any help out there??!! Could it belong to Flicker family w/o spots? Thanks!