Blood on the Boards: Life in the Wild West

We moved into this house in January, which isn't exactly prime time for viewing wildlife. Still, I have been a little disappointed that we haven't had more interesting sightings. The most unusual animal Ed and I had spotted prior to the end of March was a coyote trotting across the face of the hill opposite us. And that's not really all that unusual. We see deer constantly; rabbits frequently; and thanks to Mischa or perhaps the cats, field mice (or at least their remains). There are magpies and sparrows all over the place, but considering how much time I spend gazing out the window, I'd been hoping for something a little bit more exciting. Recently, I got my wish.

I was standing in the kitchen when something on the railing of our deck caught my eye. It was a beautiful hawk of some sort, and I immediately called Ed to come see it. Because he entered the room from a different angle, he had a different vantage point, and so he was the first to spot the carnage. Our deck was covered with gray feathers. In the center was a small pool of blood. And upon closer examination, the hawk perched above its handiwork had a few downy feathers caught between two of its talons. The perp seemed obvious.

Murder scene

We gazed at it for a while while, speculating. We concluded that the victim was probably one of the pigeons that has been hanging around on the ridge line of our roof. Then Ed just had to get a closer look and maybe a few photos, so he army-crawled toward the window. The hawk didn't care for this and flew away. But it was back again a few minutes and kept flapping off when we got too close, then returning. This caused us to wonder whether it had left some of its meal behind, but when we searched later we were unable to find a single body part. It's rather difficult to believe that a smallish hawk wolfed down an entire pigeon, but I'm not sure what else to think.

This is the best photo Ed was able to get. 

Debate about what kind of hawk we have for a neighbor have ensued. Some people who saw the pictures that Ed managed to take believe it was the ferruginous hawk and others believe it was a prairie falcon. Having looked at the pictures of both, all I can say is if they pretty darn similar to me and I can't commit to one or the other. 

Prairie Falcon

Ferruginous Hawk

Whatever it is, I have seen it several times since that day, hanging around in trees near the house. I suppose I should feel sympathetic toward the pigeon population, but it's pretty great to have our very own hawk. I hope it sticks around.