Every once in awhile, when birding, you see something that you don't see everyday. Not that this bird is rare or anything. Its what it did next that was so intriguing. I was walking up the hill from a pond on my way back to my car in the Timberlakes area of Miami-whitewater Forest when I noticed a Red-shouldered Hawk sitting on the branch of a large oak tree. When I first noticed the bird, my vantage point was such that I had to look up through leaves of a nearby sapling. So I moved up the trail a little further and stopped to get a better view. I was able to view it for a few seconds more before it flew from the branch. When it first flew, I thought I had startled it and it was trying to get away. I thought I would lose it in the trees, but to my surprise, the hawk swooped down very low to the ground. I followed it through the branches and leaves of the saplings, until I found the hawk on the forest floor, some distance away, seemingly struggling with something. I first thought the bird had gotten entangled in something man made near the ground.
A lot of commotion ensued, and I saw a gray squirrel on a tree trunk near the ground close to the hawk, scolding it furiously. I saw the hawk with its wings spread on the ground, a typical posture when a hawk captures its prey. My assumption was that the bird had caught a squirrel. Then the bird hopped up with a snake, a very long snake, and settled on the branch of a fallen tree. I watched the hawk with dead snake in talons, nearly the entire body of which dangled down from the tree branch, as it proceeded to eat the snake. It was a very tranquil moment, predator and prey, one had to die so the other could live. As I stood there, just me and the hawk and the snake, and of course the scolding squirrels, chipmunks, Carolina wrens, tufted titmice, etc., I had wished I had a camera, or another observer to share in the moment. But then again, I thought, this is just me and nature, the two intertwined, inseparable, serendipity at its best.
As I watched the hawk take bites out of the snake's flesh, beginning with the lower jaw (snake's head was upside down), I tried to identify the snake. It had a light yellowish belly, and a dark (brown or black?) and yellowish striped pattern on its upperside. I concluded that the snake was most likely a garter snake, a very, very large, and long garter snake. I estimated the length of this slithering beast at 2.5-3 feet long!!!
The majority of my viewing was spent in the crouched position, as the hawk was very low (sitting only about 2 feet off the ground when it settled with the snake on the fallen tree), looking through branches and leaves of saplings.
A lesson I want to share with my readers is this: take time to watch. When the hawk flew from the branch, I could have very easily decided, oh well, it has flown away, I'll just move on and see what else I can find. But I assure you that if you are birding just to check off species on your day list, you might miss something that comes along only every once in awhile. I'm glad I took the time to follow the flight of the hawk. What a treat to watch predator and prey in action.
Note: For my non-birding readers, you can see a picture of a Red-shouldered Hawk and read about ongoing research on the species by clicking here. Truly a remarkable bird, with a voracious appetite!
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