So, the story of the hawks and the squirrel continues (see previous posts). One afternoon, I took a nap, only to wake up to hubby stating, "If you want to save that squirrel, you BETTER get out here NOW!" I stumbled out of the bedroom and looked outside. That CRAZY squirrel was out in the open, on top of a stump, eating some "critter food" which I had very foolishly left there. And, guess who was perched right up in the tree across from the stump? TWO of the hawks! (I only got a photo of one of them...). I mean, they both had that squirrel in their line of flight and sight. She was completely oblivious of them...or was she? Does nature provide IDIOT squirrels with some kind of defense? She had used her nose to find the critter food...would her nose alert her to the hawks? Would she hear them fly over her as they swooped down? I really didn't wish to find out, so I ran outside screaming and waving my arms. The two hawks took off and so did Madam Squirrel. Only, she stuck her foolish head out and came back to scavenge for more food. I was beside myself...Here was this beautiful, young squirrel, certainly easy prey for the hawks and I could do nothing to save her. But, did she have some kind of internal defense? Was her hearing acute enough to hear the hawks leave the tree and swoop down? I don't know. I do know that one morning I took my reading book outside to read on the back porch. A crow flew right overhead and, for the first time ever, I hear the "flap, flap, flap , flap" of its wings. I mean, I HEARD it. Then, two of them flew right by the end of the porch and I heard both of them...I HAVE heard an owl fly by and my hearing is no way near that of a prey animal. Also, it is a well known fact that predators don't always get a meal...lions don't. Leopards don't. Cheetahs don't. I'm hoping that Cooper's hawks don't always get a meal, too, and that Madam Squirrel lives to put peanuts into the ground for the coming winter. I don't know how this tale ends as we left the next morning...Nature Notes for August 25, 2011. To see other Nature Notes, please go to:
http://ramblingwoods.com/
