Red in beak and claw
Every morning at 7:45, I walk from my office to the building where my class meets, and I pass through a square with a lot of tall, old oak and pine trees. It's very pretty, and with the upper story of 150-year-old trees and understory of bushes and small landscaping trees, there's a good amount of urban wildlife. Lots of squirrels and birds, the occasional crows chasing a hawk or mockingbirds chasing a crow.
Yesterday I saw a crow chasing a sparrow. I thought it was unusual -- usually crows don't bother with little birds. But this crow was doing aerial feats to keep up with the sparrow, and then it actually grabbed at it in the air. The sparrow fell down, the crow landed near it and waited, and when the sparrow took off again, the crow launched and caught it again, mid-air, and this time the sparrow was shrieking. Finally the crow landed again, transferred the sparrow's body to its beak, and flew up to a high branch where it held the sparrow in its claws and used its beak to pluck all the feathers off of the sparrow's breast. The feathers were fluttering down on students walking to class. I finally left when the crow started its actual meal.
Wow, y'all! Red in beak and claw, yes, but it was so cool. I've never seen a crow hunting before. (I did a Topeka search and mostly came up with things about humans hunting crows.) What an experience to have right before going in to teach class.
(I didn't post this yesterday because it was unusual, and I didn't want it to sound like an April Fool's joke.)
Some more peaceful bits of nature:
Peach blossoms at sunset
Pecan tree, cloud, moon
Jonquils after the snow
And some happier animals: cat in a box and dog in the flowers.
Yesterday I saw a crow chasing a sparrow. I thought it was unusual -- usually crows don't bother with little birds. But this crow was doing aerial feats to keep up with the sparrow, and then it actually grabbed at it in the air. The sparrow fell down, the crow landed near it and waited, and when the sparrow took off again, the crow launched and caught it again, mid-air, and this time the sparrow was shrieking. Finally the crow landed again, transferred the sparrow's body to its beak, and flew up to a high branch where it held the sparrow in its claws and used its beak to pluck all the feathers off of the sparrow's breast. The feathers were fluttering down on students walking to class. I finally left when the crow started its actual meal.
Wow, y'all! Red in beak and claw, yes, but it was so cool. I've never seen a crow hunting before. (I did a Topeka search and mostly came up with things about humans hunting crows.) What an experience to have right before going in to teach class.
(I didn't post this yesterday because it was unusual, and I didn't want it to sound like an April Fool's joke.)
Some more peaceful bits of nature:
Peach blossoms at sunset
Pecan tree, cloud, moon
Jonquils after the snow
And some happier animals: cat in a box and dog in the flowers.