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09/23/2009: "Patrolling the Skies"

While harvesting the beans last week I heard some screeching, and I looked up to see a pair of hawks gliding and circling above. The picture above makes them look quite close, though they were in actuality pretty high up - the wonders of telephoto lenses. I watched them circle and drift southward, in search of easy prey. How were the chickens doing, I wondered?

The chickens, not surprisingly, take notice of the hawks. They pack themselves under the plum tree, where they stay for quite a while while the hawks are out and about!



Neighbor Ed warned me that we'll probably see more predators as the summer wanes and prey declines in other locales, like along the river. Lou has got some fence protection up near the chicken pens, but Ed says that he's seen coyotes get very bold - one jumped over his chest-high woven wire fence, decimated his duck flock, and was gone in a matter of seconds.