Talons over the ellipse: It always seems like such a waste when a hawk eats a snake

I mean, they both eat rodents!!! like voles. Why couldn't the Red-tail have eaten a nice rabbit or maybe...well I don't know but there you go. This capture took place just about in the shadow of the Capitol Columns and was witnessed by several groups of visitors; it was a wonderful day and a lot of people were out.

Every year we have a number of breeding pairs of Red-tailed Hawks; Michael tells me ther are two pairs in the Native Plant Collections, there's always one in the woods across from the bathrooms at the Grove of State Trees, another that lives on Hickey Hill and hunts the open meadows surrounding Springhouse Run, and there is this pair that lives in the Beech Woods across from the Capitol Columns.

They, rightly, have no fear of me. I have chased one or both of them around on foot and they're content to sit on a branch 30' above me to all appearances, oblivious to my presence. One rainy day this spring, I actually took a branch and pounded on the tree they were both in to try to get them to fly or even look down. Nothing.